How the University of Pennsylvania's Culture Failed Katalin Karikó and mRNA Research

Background

Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian-born biochemist who is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which has revolutionized the field of vaccine development and led to the creation of the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. ¹²³ This year she received the Nobel Prize for medical physiology for her work.

However, before she achieved this remarkable feat, she faced decades of rejection, frustration, and demotion at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked as a researcher from 1989 to 2013. ⁴⁵

In this blog post, I will explore how the university culture at Penn failed to appreciate and nurture Karikó's talent and vision, and how this reflects on the challenges and limitations of academic research in general.

Penn's Organizational Culture and Values: A Brief Overview

The University of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education in the United States. It was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1740 as a secondary school, and later evolved into a college and a university with a strong emphasis on research and innovation. 

Penn prides itself on being a leader in arts and culture, civic engagement, diversity and inclusion, global initiatives, interdisciplinary collaboration, and social impact. It boasts a vibrant campus life with hundreds of student organizations, clubs, and activities that cater to various interests and passions. It also claims to foster a culture that supports and celebrates diverse and visionary researchers who have the potential to change the world for the better.  

However, Penn's culture is not without its flaws and contradictions. As a highly competitive and selective institution, Penn also has a reputation for being stressful, demanding, and elitist. It has been criticized for its lack of transparency, accountability, and social responsibility in some of its policies and practices. It has also been accused of neglecting or exploiting some of its faculty, staff, and students, especially those who belong to marginalized or underrepresented groups.

   

Karikó's Story: A Case Study of Penn's Culture

Karikó's story is a striking example of how Penn's culture failed to recognize and reward her genius and innovation. Karikó joined Penn in 1989 as an assistant professor of biochemistry, after completing her PhD at the University of Szeged in Hungary and working as a postdoctoral fellow at Temple University. She was fascinated by the idea of using synthetic mRNA molecules to instruct cells to produce proteins that could treat various diseases. She believed that mRNA could be used as a platform for delivering vaccines and gene therapies. 

However, she soon realized that mRNA research was not a popular or lucrative field in the US either. She struggled to find funding and publish her papers, and faced constant skepticism and criticism from her peers and superiors. She was rejected by hundreds of grant agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which deemed her proposals "too ambitious" or "not feasible".  

She never received tenure or promotion at Penn. Instead, she was demoted to a lower rank of research assistant professor in 1995, and had her salary cut by $15,000. She was also excluded from faculty meetings and decision-making processes. She was told that her work was not "relevant" or "impactful" enough for the university.  

Despite these setbacks, Karikó never gave up on her vision. She continued to work on mRNA with a small team of dedicated collaborators, including Drew Weissman, an immunologist who shared her enthusiasm for RNA therapeutics. Together, they made a breakthrough discovery in 2005: they found a way to modify the synthetic mRNA molecules to avoid triggering an unwanted immune response that would destroy them before reaching their target cells. This opened up new possibilities for using mRNA as a platform for delivering vaccines and gene therapies.  

However, even this breakthrough did not change the attitude of Penn towards Karikó and her work. The university did not recognize or reward her achievement and did not offer her any support or protection for her intellectual property rights. Instead, it tried to force her to give up her patents and royalties to the university, claiming that she had used its resources and facilities for her research. Karikó refused to comply, and fought back with the help of Weissman and a lawyer. She eventually won the legal battle, but at a high personal cost. She felt betrayed and isolated by the institution that she had served for 24 years.  

In 2013, Karikó decided to leave Penn and join BioNTech, a biotechnology company based in Germany that was founded by Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, two Turkish-German scientists who were impressed by Karikó's work on mRNA. At BioNTech, Karikó found a new home where she was valued and respected for her expertise and creativity. She became a senior vice president and led a team of researchers who applied mRNA technology to develop novel vaccines and therapies for various diseases, including cancer and COVID-19.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to develop an mRNA vaccine based on Karikó's invention. The vaccine proved to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infection, and was authorized for emergency use by several countries around the world. The vaccine has been administered to hundreds of millions of people, saving countless lives and helping to end the global health crisis.  

Karikó's story is one of perseverance, courage, and innovation. It is also one of injustice, neglect, and discrimination. Penn failed to appreciate and nurture her talent and instead tried to undermine and exploit her work. Penn should be ashamed of its treatment of Karikó and should apologize and compensate her for the harm it caused her. Penn should also learn from its mistakes, and foster a culture that supports and celebrates diverse and visionary researchers like Karikó, who have the potential to change the world for the better.

A Reflection on Academic Research and University Transformation

Karikó's story is not unique. It is a reflection of the challenges and limitations of academic research in general. Academic research is often constrained by factors such as funding, publication, tenure, promotion, reputation, competition, politics, bureaucracy, and bias. These factors can create a culture that discourages risk-taking, creativity, collaboration, diversity, and social impact. They can also create a culture that rewards conformity, mediocrity, self-interest, elitism, and exploitation.   

Academic research is not inherently bad or evil. It can also produce great benefits for humanity, such as knowledge, innovation, education, and social change. However, academic research needs to be reformed and improved to overcome its flaws and contradictions. Academic research needs to be more transparent, accountable, responsible, inclusive, supportive, and ethical. Academic research needs to be more aligned with the needs and values of society, rather than the interests and agendas of institutions or individuals. Academic research needs to be more open-minded, curious, adventurous, collaborative, diverse, and impactful.

Conclusion

Katalin Karikó is a hero of science and humanity. She deserves our admiration and gratitude for her contribution to the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases. She also deserves our sympathy and solidarity for her struggle against the unfair and oppressive culture of Penn and academic research. There is no need to give this a fancy name, it is simply short-sightedness, discrimination and xenophobia. 

Her story should inspire us to pursue our dreams and passions with courage and determination. Her story should also motivate us to reform and improve the culture of academic research with vision and action.

References:

Scientific Dilemma Named after Katalin Karikó. (2022, June 30). Retrieved from https://hungarytoday.hu/katalin-kariko-mrna-reserach-funding-stuart-buck-kariko-problem-drew-weissman