The Turkish-German couple behind the historical coronavirus vaccine is the latest recipients of The prestigious German doctors Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter prize. Özlem Türeci and her husband Uğur Şahin received the prize which comes with €120,000 ($132,000) in prize money, on Monday evening at a ceremony in Frankfurt. Along with the couple, the prize was given to the Hungarian-American scientist Katalin Kariko, senior vice-president of BioNTech co-founded by Uğur Şahin.
Şahin said after receiving the prize that they expected the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) of their vaccine technology will soon be accustomed to fight other diseases. “We think we will see a number of success in the next five to 10 years,” he said.
the fact that they succeeded in develop a vaccine against the coronavirus in just 10 months had a major impact on medicine, Şahin said. “The success is the beginning of an era for mRNA therapy. technology East already being tested against various infectious diseases and cancer, but treatment of auto-immune or cardiac muscle diseases is also conceivable.
For the first time in the 70’s-year history of the awardthe winners of two years were honored at the same prize-giving event. Last year is award ceremony in St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt has been canceled due to the pandemic.
