Researched
RNA interference
Fire and Mello showed in 1998 that double-stranded RNA silences matching genes; the first RNA-interference drug reached patients in 2018.
Open in the interactive tree →They worked in the roundworm C. elegans and won the 2006 Nobel Prize. Patisiran (Onpattro), approved in 2018 for a hereditary nerve disease, was the first siRNA drug; its lipid-nanoparticle delivery was later used for mRNA vaccines.
Prerequisites
- Gene regulation (operon)1961
- The genetic code1966
- Catalytic RNA and the RNA world1982-1983RNAi extends the finding that RNA is an active molecule, not just a message
Unlocks
- mRNA technology2020Lipid nanoparticles proven for the first RNA-interference drug also carry mRNA vaccines