At this year’s Commencement, Weissman and Karikó each earned an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Brandeis.
Weissman remarked during his remarks, “It is here that I developed my critical thinking skills, beginning as a freshman in Shapiro Hall, and cultivated my interest for scientific discovery in Professor Gerry Fasman’s biochemistry lab. As an involved student, campus citizen, and part-time activist, “I learned the value of collaboration and open-mindedness.”
Weissman and Karikó received the 50th Annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award in Basic Medical Research from Brandeis and the Rosenstiel Foundation in February 2021. The esteemed Lasker Award for clinical medical research was given to both of them as well.
“Drew’s groundbreaking study of messenger RNA represents a significant advance in science. In addition to changing the path of a pandemic, he has enhanced human knowledge and understanding in ways that will influence vaccine research for future generations through his visionary work. One of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of our time, according to Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz, is his extraordinary feat.
Weissman, a native of Lexington, Massachusetts, attended Brandeis after pursuing his early interest in science. He pursued a lifetime of research after completing his pre-med prerequisites, studying biochemistry and enzymology, and beginning in Gerald Fasman’s lab. He participated in advocacy for voting rights, social justice, and environmental issues with other students outside of the classroom and lab.
“Going at Brandeis broadened my knowledge. Political science, psychology, sociology, opera, music, and theater were among the subjects I learned. Over the years after I graduated, all of those things kept growing. So, he stated when accepting the Brandeis Alumni Achievement Award in 2021, “I think it definitely widened me as a person. But I was most happy conducting research in the lab, where my main focus was.
After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brandeis, Weissman continued on to Boston University where he obtained his PhD and medical degree. After earning his doctorate, Weissman worked as a resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and as a fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he conducted HIV research under the guidance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. He has served as a medical professor at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania since 1997.
He declared this during Virus Wars: The Battle Against COVID-19 and Other Viral Threats, a Brandeis event, in April 2021. “I’m still a basic scientist, I always will be,” he added. “The ability to test an idea to see if it works is basic science. If that doesn’t work, you try another approach. And I find working in basic science to be immensely fulfilling.
Weissman and Karikó discovered that by creating a system to deliver a modified form of mRNA, which carries instructions to cells regarding the production of proteins, they could deceive the immune system into believing the body is infected with a virus, causing antibodies to be produced to at least partially create immunity. Their efforts set the foundation for the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer.
Michael Rosbash, the Peter Gruber Endowed Chair in Neuroscience and 2017 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine, noted that the successful efforts made worldwide to develop efficient vaccinations are among the pandemic’s few beneficial effects. The most innovative of these relies on the novel messenger RNA technology developed by Kariko and Weissman. This is a fantastic example of how a fundamental scientist’s independent initiative led to an amazing change in the world.
A weakened or dead version of the virus is administered in conventional vaccines for diseases like chickenpox, polio, the flu, or rabies, tricking the immune system into attacking the illness. That method costs more than generating mRNA, which can be programmed to treat many diseases.
The development of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to biochemist Carol Fierke, Brandeis University’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, “is a great illustration of how innovations in basic science, like the RNA technology invented by Weissman and Karikó, can have a significant impact on advances in the biomedical sciences.”
Weissman claimed that his time studying biochemistry at Brandeis University gave him “insights on how to develop hypotheses — how to think over them, how to develop new lines of research.” He opted to stay a fourth year longer to complete a master’s degree rather than graduate in three. Acetylation of DNA, a step in the control of genes, was the subject of his master’s thesis.
He claims that Brandeis also taught him the importance of a strong sense of community. He claims that pre-med was “an extraordinarily stressful time… but I also had the professors’ support in addition to that of my friends and fellow classmates.
They wished for our success, and I believe it is what helped to shape me. Since Brandeis trained him to do so, I have worked with the many students I currently have in my lab to ensure their success. “I believe that the collegiality, collaborative atmosphere, and the friendships I made at Brandeis are what really stand out in my memory. It was a very friendly and helpful neighborhood.