Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci: Breakthroughs in recent science

The COVID 19 pandemic, which has become the forefront of today's society for over 6 months, has had researchers pouring over a cure or a vaccination since the virus first came to light. A new breakthrough has occured along the lines of medical prospects between the companies BioNtech and Pfizer igniting a spark in people at the end of the seemingly never ending tunnel. The manner in which the vaccine was created is different from the conventional foundation of a vaccine, in the way that it transfers a copy of the virus into the recipient. But although the innovation of the injection is very current, the story and background of the leaders for this project is important to express the diversity and culture impacts of the STEM fields. The married couple Dr. Uğur Şahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci have started two leading companies in research and development and are both experts in their fields; however, the credit disparity between the two doctors is imminent.

Both Dr. Uğur Şahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci are muslim immigrants who moved with their parents in their childhood to Germany from their birthplace of Turkey. Dr. Sahin earned his PhD and completed his residency in medicine while Dr. Türeci similarly earned her MD. As a trained physician and immunologist she moved out of academia as a working professor and doctor and into research development when she decided she could provide more assistance to the community in this field. They later married and began their first company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals which led to new opportunities for the market in cancer immunotherapy especially due to the pioneer work of Dr. Türeci in Gastric cancer. They eventually sold that company as they turned to invest in their new project, BioNtech. This company has now partnered with Pfizer to date to provide the world with the current leading vaccine for the coronavirus. Although both leaders are prominent scientists in their fields and their works together and apart are expansive the gender differences impact their reputations in and out of the field. The public recognition and credit of the scientific research of Dr. Sahin is shown by the awards he is presented with while the field seems to be more ignorant of Dr. Tureci’s work in the business as well as in the research department.

The injection which just passed the third phase of clinical trials in the accelerated program of the two partnered companies uses a new foundation for the vaccine which takes less time to grow and therefore can be distributed at a more rapid pace making it more acceptable for the current pandemic. The new model of injection produces mRNA to teach the body to make its own antigen toward the virus using the provided genetic code. The immune system recognizes these antigens and prepares the body to fight COVID19 if it enters the immune system. This way of formatting the vaccine means the company does not have to grow the virus inside a liquid to inject to the bloodstream, the body grows the virus for us, eliminating this process means creation time is narrowed from about 6 months to 6 weeks. Not only does this factor trigger a quicker turnaround time and distribution time to the unprotected public but it creates a faster latch onto new strains of the virus born out of mutations. Due to the fact that this virus, like the flu, can mutate at a quicker rate than the older foundation for vaccines could grow, the innovations for this corona vaccine are invaluable to the community and the return to normal society.