Abington biochemist Katalin Karikó recently published a new book, Breaking Through: My Life in Science, which provides a vivid account of her life and decades of derision she had to power through before pioneering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, writes Robin McKie for The Guardian. 

Today recognized as one of the world’s greatest biochemists, Karikó was ousted from her tiny lab at the University of Pennsylvania just over a decade ago for not bringing in “sufficient dollars per net square footage.” 

“That lab is going to be a museum one day,” she told the manager who ousted her, which was close to the truth. 

Karikó is a Hungary native who obtained a PhD at Szeged University. In 1984, she moved to the United States with her family.

Her obsession with messenger RNA did not win her many friends at the University of Pennsylvania, even earning her “the crazy mRNA lady” moniker. 

But she persevered in her work, and after being ousted by the university, she was snapped up by the German company BioNTech to start working on mRNA medicines. 

“My eyes grew misty,” she recalled after being given one of the United States’ first COVID vaccines.

The rest of her story is now scientific history. 

Read more about Breaking Through and what it details about Katalin Karikó’s life in The Guardian. 

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