American immunologist Drew Weissman is known for his groundbreaking research into RNA, which ultimately led to the development of mRNA vaccines, including those for COVID-19. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Weissman and his colleague the Hungarian-born immunologist Katalin Karikó discovered that mRNA can induce immune responses against specific disease-causing agents. For their breakthroughs relating to RNA and mRNA vaccines, the pair shared the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.