Years ago, Katalin Karikó shared a life goal with her young daughter, Susan Francia.
Karikó, who for decades has studied mRNA, hoped the research would ultimately lead to somebody being treated for therapeutic use.
“If it could help at least one person,” Francia said, “she felt that her work was done.”
Now, 35 years after Karikó was fired from a Hungarian biological research center and, with her family, came to the U.S. with about $1,200 sewed in 2-year-old Susan’s teddy bear, she is lauded for helping lay the groundwork for a coronavirus vaccine.