Topic: messenger RNA

Jeff Coller explains how messenger RNA carries information from DNA to the machinery that produces proteins and how researchers are learning to use it therapeutically. The conversation covers vaccination, tailored treatments and approaches connected with gene editing, placing these developments in the broader biology of RNA and its possible role in the origins of life.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman explain the scientific development of messenger RNA as a therapeutic platform. Their lectures address why laboratory-produced RNA can trigger inflammatory responses and how modification of its nucleosides changes immune recognition and improves protein production. The programme connects those molecular findings with the practical challenges of making RNA stable and delivering it into cells, including lipid-nanoparticle formulations. It follows the development of modified mRNA from a difficult experimental material to a foundation for vaccines and other therapeu