Why Some Scientists See ‘Unlimited’ Possibility In Technology Behind COVID-19 Vaccines

One of Moderna co-founder Derrick Rossi’s favorite things to say is that there are three keys to life on Earth.

“DNA makes mRNA makes protein makes life,” he says.

The experimental technology behind Moderna and Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccines harnesses the power of one of those keys  – messenger RNA, or mRNA. These vaccines are the first medical products to use mRNA in this way, but they certainly won’t be the last. A COVID-19 vaccine is just one of the near-infinite possibilities the technology offers, Rossi says.

Being able to control mRNA would allow scientists to manipulate life in astonishing new ways. It could open the door to new treatments for diseases like cystic fibrosis, cancer and HIV. Now, bolstered by the apparent success of the COVID-19 vaccine, Rossi says those other applications may soon come to fruition.

“Within 10 years time, we’ll see probably dozens of mRNA therapeutics. In maybe 15 years time, we’ll see maybe 50 or 60 mRNA therapeutics,” he says.

Before Rossi co-founded Moderna, he was a biologist at Harvard tinkering with mRNA. DNA is often described as the building block of life, but DNA is essentially a database of information cells need to create proteins. RNA is the molecule that actually does the work of creating those proteins.

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