Here’s what a Nobel Prize-winning scientist wants you to know about the Covid-19 vaccines and the future of RNA
While you’re probably pretty familiar with DNA, it’s likely that RNA only made it onto your radar during the pandemic, thanks to Covid-19 vaccines such as the ones from Moderna and Pfizer.
DNA is “the storehouse of genetic information,” says chemist Thomas R. Cech. It contains the genes that encode all of the proteins that a living thing needs — making it possible for our muscles to move or our hearts to beat, or creating the circuits in our brains. “Proteins are the key to life, and DNA tells the body how to make each of them, but it doesn’t do it directly, it has a messenger that acts as an intermediary.”
That’s where RNA comes in. As a messenger, it takes the instructions from our DNA to the area where the protein is created.
“We saw that with the mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines that it can be a good messenger,” says Cech. “But it can do so much more than just act as a message.”
