The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced on October 2, 2023. The American scientists Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó have been named winners of the Prize for “discovering nucleotide base modification and thus developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”. Remarkably, Dr. Houping Ni is the third author in their landmark research paper published in 2015.

The beginning of dream

In 1979, Houping Ni studied in the Medical Department of Hengyang Medical College in China. “At a young age and in the midst of an infinitely bright vision of the future, I came to a university full of infinite vitality and vigor. The library of Hengyang Medical College was a particular favorite of mine, which was my source of knowledge and a treasure trove of books I borrowed and read with my classmates”, she recalled.

Houping Ni said there are many admirable teachers in Hengyang Medical College, who adopted teaching style under the combination of theory with practice. At a microbiology course, when the movie “The Cassandra Crossing” that had a plot depicting the control of cholera outbreaks was released, our teacher changed the plan immediately and expounded Vibrio cholerae in advance, including initial symptoms, diagnosis and therapeutic regimen, etc. This vivid teaching scene was unforgettable for her.

Firm belief

In 1998, Houping Ni entered the School of Medicine in University of Pennsylvania, and joined the group of Dr. Weissman, where she worked with Dr. Karikó on research regarding the application of mRNA to treat infectious diseases.

She said that mRNA is an unstable material that is prone to degradation and can induce endogenous inflammatory response. In 2005, a published report of the group introduced a special modified mRNA that can not only reduce immunoreaction, but also greatly increase the translation efficiency of mRNA to produce more proteins. Accordingly, they began to investigate how to use mRNA in human body to prevent infectious diseases. mRNA vaccines in protecting human health are not restricted to combat COVID-19, but open a door for combating other serious diseases.

Houping Ni is responsible for cell biology, molecular biology techniques, detection of function and side effects of modified mRNA, and laboratory management. In the cooperative research, she witnessed the rigorous, persistent, and realistic work attitude of the two scientists, as well as how they overcame obstacles, such as the difficulty of applying for funding, the dearth of recognition on their research direction and the difficulty of finding cooperation.

Holding firmly to the truth

During the experiments with multiple difficulties, the group constantly revised the mistakes and restarted. In 2007, when there was a controversy on Treg system, the relevant experiments were assigned to a PhD candidate, who later obtained contradictory results. Then, the candidate sought help from Houping Ni to jointly conduct the experiments. Houping Ni repeated the experiment twice, but the results were contradictory to the original ones.

Through a rigorous consideration, Dr. Weissman decided to publish a paper to illuminate that other factors except Treg may participate in the regulation of T cells, which later was acknowledged by the academic community. “Don’t study mechanically, don’t blindly believe in the authority and hold firmly to the truth”, the truth that Houping Ni learned.

Over the years, Ni Houping stuck to the rigorous scientific attitude, and used the most reliable experimental results and data analysis for the team to lay a solid theoretical foundation. But she considered these works normal, and said “I’m honored to make negligible contributions to human health.”