Answer the following about the research of 2023 Nobel laureate Drew Weissman’s lab, for 10 points each:
[10e] With Katalin Karikó, Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology for their work on modifying nucleobases in these nucleic acids to create COVID vaccines.
ANSWER: mRNAs [accept messenger RNAs or messenger ribonucleic acids; prompt on RNAs or ribonucleic acids]
[10m] Nanoparticles of these compounds encapsulate mRNA for drug delivery mechanisms in Weissman and Karikó’s vaccines. These compounds form ordered “rafts” that recruit proteins in cells.
ANSWER: lipids [accept lipid rafts; accept glycosphingolipids]
[10h] The Weissman lab’s research primarily focuses on the envelope proteins of this pathogen. Vaccine efforts against this pathogen often focus on targeting the glycoproteins 41 and 120 that make up a trimeric protein in it.
ANSWER: HIV [or human immunodeficiency virus; reject “AIDS” or “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”]
<SM, Biology>