Wired UK investigates the vaccine revolution in July/August issue

mRNA brought us a Covid-19 jab in record speed, but its next step could be even bigger – which is the main topic of the new issue of Wired UK, available to buy now.

The scope of mRNA vaccines always went beyond any one disease. Like moving from a vacuum tube to a microchip, the technology promises to perform the same task as traditional vaccines, but exponentially faster, and for a fraction of the cost. 

In its July/August issue, Wired UK speaks to the scientists that hope the technology could open the door to vaccines for everything from flu to HIV. The issue’s cover star, Katalin Karikó, is one of the heroes of the pandemic – she started working with mRNA as early as 1989, and her tireless work to develop mRNA technology led to a vaccine breakthrough that will have health impacts for years to come. 

“When I started this work decades ago, I kept a list of 30 diseases I thought RNA would be good for,” she says. Telomeres were there, cystic fibrosis, emphysema – all have research programmes dedicated to them now. And there’s still much more to do. “There are 25 left,” she wrote, when asked about progress so far. “So many things are still out there.”

Read the full article here.