Drew Weissman

Drew Weissman shared the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the nucleoside-modified mRNA technology that enabled COVID-19 vaccines and is now being applied to personalized cancer neoantigen vaccines, with mRNA-4157/V940 (Moderna/Merck) showing remarkable efficacy in combination with pembrolizumab for melanoma. His discovery that pseudouridine and other nucleoside modifications suppress innate immune sensing of mRNA while maintaining translational efficiency enabled the mRNA vaccine platform. He has optimized lipid nanoparticle delivery systems for tumor antigen mRNA that serve as both delivery vehicle and adjuvant. His technology has created the most advanced platform for rapid manufacturing of personalized cancer vaccines.