2022 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award#
Prof. Katalin Kariko, member of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology section, and Prof. Ángela Nieto, member of the Physiology and Neuroscience section, were awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award
in recognition of the excellence of their research in the fields of life sciences.
Prof. Katalin Karikó, Adjunct Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America, and Senior Vice President at BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals received the award "for her groundbreaking development of a non-inflammatory mRNA, which can be a potent vaccine and is essential for recently producing effective COVID-19 vaccines. Her work has paved the way for future therapies in complex diseases such as cancer, heart failure, stroke anemia and autoimmune diseases."
Prof. Ángela Nieto, Professor at the Institute of Neuroscience (CSIC-UMH), San Juan de Alicante, Spain, received the award "for her fundamental discoveries on how cells change identity during embryonic development to disseminate and form different tissues. Her work has paved the way for the understanding of how cancer spreads to other organs and forms metastasis."
Academia Europaea congratulates Prof. Karikó and Prof. Nieto to this distinction!#
About the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards#
The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards are presented every year to five outstanding women scientists – one per each of the following regions: Africa and the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America - in recognition of their scientific accomplishments. Each scientist has had a unique career path combining exceptional talent, a deep commitment to her profession and remarkable courage in a field still largely dominated by men.
The scientific fields considered for the awards alternate every other year between LifeSciences (even years) and PhysicalSciences, Mathematics and Computer Science (odd years).
Five L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureates received the Nobel Prize in their field of expertise: Christine Nusslein-Volhard and Elizabeth Blackburn in Medicine or Physiology, Ada Yonath, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna in Chemistry.
