The 19th edition of BioAsia organised by the Government of Telangana and the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations [FABA], has announced that the coveted Genome Valley Excellence Award for the year 2022 will be conferred upon Dr Drew Weissman.

The award has been announced in recognition for his breakthrough pioneering research and development of effective mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, that has helped save billions of lives globally.

Dr Weissman is a Professor at the Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He is also acknowledged for his contributions to the development of various vaccines including COVID-19, universal flu vaccine, herpes vaccine, etc. besides several other therapeutic developments.

Dr. Weismann’s extensive efforts in collaboration with fellow scientists led to his discovery of the ability of modified nucleosides in RNA to suppress activation of innate immune sensors and increase the translation of mRNA containing certain modified nucleosides. The nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine platform, Dr. Weissman’s lab created, is used in the first two approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.