The understated impact of mRNA, Noubar Afeyan and Moderna
Because they literally have saved millions of lives
In the past couple of years, the world has witnessed the breakthrough success of mRNA technology, specifically with the COVID-19 vaccines. mRNA technology, which stands for messenger RNA, is a type of genetic material that plays a critical role in the body's protein synthesis. Despite its recent success, mRNA technology has been in development for over 30 years. The founding of Moderna, one of the leading mRNA vaccine companies, can be attributed to the vision and leadership of its co-founder, Noubar Afeyan.
First of all, let's talk about how freaking hard it is to do pure sciences. You can't just push out a drug to humans and see how they behave as this isn’t about building another photo filter app. The science is fundamental, and if done well, it can lead to a paradigm shift in how humanity or nature prevails. And Moderna - led by its founder, Noubar Afeyan has done just that. His company Moderna is one of only two that took note of the potential of mRNA technology, a type of RNA molecule that acts as the messenger to the cells on the kind of proteins to make.
Talking about Noubar Afeyan, a Lebanese-born Armenian-American entrepreneur, he is one of the most influential figures in the biotech industry - like the Clark Kent of biotech. He's got a Ph.D. from MIT, is the co-founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, a leading venture capital firm that focuses on creating and developing innovative solutions in life sciences other than managing Moderna. In one of his talks - Noubar has an interesting bit about why immigrants tend to be better innovators. He calls it "intellectual immigration". Basically, when you move to a new country, you bring your culture, your ideas, and your way of thinking with you. And when you're exposed to new ideas and new perspectives, that's when innovation happens.
Now, let's talk about mRNA. It's the messenger that tells your cells what proteins to make. It's like the postman of the body, delivering important instructions straight to the cells. And Moderna was one of the first companies to realize its potential, figuring out how to use mRNA to make vaccines. They basically turned our bodies into tiny vaccine-making factories. It's like outsourcing your protein production to your own cells, except you don't have to worry about any shady outsourcing practices.
Moderna was one of the first companies to realize the potential of mRNA technology. They figured out how to use mRNA to make vaccines, which is a big deal. Instead of mass-producing proteins in factories, they can just send the genetic instructions to your body and let it become the factory. It's like outsourcing your protein production to your own cells. Moderna also operated in secrecy for years, like a James Bond operation, except instead of fancy reconnaissance gadgets, they had vials and pipettes. And instead of saving the world from an evil villain, they were saving it from a deadly virus.
Finally, let's talk about the possibilities that mRNA can have. I'm not just talking about Covid vaccines here, although that's impressive enough. We're talking about vaccines for cancer, HIV, Zika, and more. That's more vaccine candidates than the Kardashians have businesses (well, maybe not quite, but you get the point). And instead of mass-producing spike proteins in factories, the mRNA vaccines carry a genetic instruction to let our bodies become the factory of spike proteins. It's like turning our bodies into tiny vaccine-making factories, and I don't know about you, but that's pretty freaking cool.