Melissa J. Moore | |
---|---|
Born | |
Spouse | Janet Kosloff |
Academic background | |
Education | BS, Chemistry, 1984, College of William and Mary PhD, Biological Chemistry, 1989, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thesis | Mercuric ion reductase: mutagenesis of N- and C-terminal paired cysteines and initial crystallization studies (1989) |
Doctoral advisor | Christopher T. Walsh Phillip Allen Sharp (postdoc) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Moderna University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School Brandeis University |
Melissa J. Moore is an American biochemist who focuses on RNA. She was the Chief Scientific Officer of Moderna from 2016-2023,where her team contributed to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Moore was born and raised in New Market,Virginia, [1] the youngest of four children. [2] After graduating from the College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology,she earned her PhD in Biological Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. [1] She wrote her thesis on "Mercuric ion reductase:mutagenesis of n- and c-terminal paired cysteines and initial crystallization studies". [3] As a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Phillip Allen Sharp,she invented technology to join long RNA molecules, [4] and published a seminal paper establishing the chemical mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing. [5]
Following her postdoctoral fellowship,Moore joined the faculty at Brandeis University in 1994,despite being recruited by Harvard University,Yale University,and Northwestern University. [6] Soon after,she was named a Searle Scholar and Packard Fellow. [7] [8] At Brandeis,Moore established her own laboratory in the Biochemistry Department to research pre-mRNA splicing and its connections to intracellular mRNA localization,translation,and degradation. In 1997,she became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator,a position she retained for the following 19 years.
In 2007,Moore moved her research group to the Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Department at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMass Med). [9] [10] In 2011,Moore was the recipient of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's William C. Rose Award [11] for excellence in mentoring. That year,Moore and her collaborator Ananth Karumanchi,also received a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grant for their project "siRNA-based Therapeutics for Preeclampsia." [12] They received a second grant in 2013 to refine the therapy and test it in baboons. [13] That work stemmed from Moore's own experience as a preeclampsia survivor in 2003. [14]
In October 2016,Moore was appointed Chief Scientific Officer,Platform Research,at Moderna Therapeutics. [15] [16] While serving in this role,she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, [17] named a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,and recognized with the 2021 RNA Society Lifetime Achievement in Science Award. [18] During the COVID-19 pandemic,the work of Moore's team was instrumental in the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. [19] In December 2020,she and other Moderna leaders addressed the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to consider recommending emergency use authorization of the mRNA-1273 vaccine. [2]
Moore is married to Janet Kosloff,a retired CEO and entrepreneur in the life science market research sector. They have three children. [2]
UMass Chan Medical School is a public medical school in Worcester,Massachusetts. It is part of the University of Massachusetts system. It is home to three schools:the T.H. Chan School of Medicine,the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences,and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing,as well as a biomedical research enterprise and a range of public-service initiatives throughout the state.
Joan Elaine Argetsinger Steitz is Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is known for her discoveries involving RNA,including ground-breaking insights into how ribosomes interact with messenger RNA by complementary base pairing and that introns are spliced by small nuclear ribonucleic proteins (snRNPs),which occur in eukaryotes. In September 2018,Steitz won the Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science. The Lasker award is often referred to as the 'American Nobel' because 87 of the former recipients have gone on to win Nobel prizes.
Katherine A. Fitzgerald is an Irish-born American molecular biologist and virologist. She is a professor of medicine currently working in the Division of Infectious Disease at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is also the director of the Program in Innate Immunity.
Michael Green was an American molecular biologist and cell biologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School,where he was the chair of the Department of Molecular,Cell and Cancer Biology,director of the UMass Cancer Center,and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Green was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
Derrick J. Rossi,is a Canadian stem cell biologist and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of the biotechnology company Moderna.
Phillip D. Zamore is an American molecular biologist and developed the first in vitro system for studying the mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi). He is the Gretchen Stone Cook Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School,located in Worcester,Massachusetts. Zamore is the chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute (RTI) at UMass Chan Medical School,established in 2009,and has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 2008.
An mRNAvaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response. The vaccine delivers molecules of antigen-encoding mRNA into immune cells,which use the designed mRNA as a blueprint to build foreign protein that would normally be produced by a pathogen or by a cancer cell. These protein molecules stimulate an adaptive immune response that teaches the body to identify and destroy the corresponding pathogen or cancer cells. The mRNA is delivered by a co-formulation of the RNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles that protect the RNA strands and help their absorption into the cells.
The Moderna COVID‑19 vaccine,sold under the brand name Spikevax,is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna,the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Depending on the jurisdiction,it is authorized for use in people aged six months,twelve years,or eighteen years and older. It provides protection against COVID-19 which is caused by infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is designed to be administered as two or three 0.5 mL doses given by intramuscular injection at an interval of at least 28 days apart.
Kizzmekia "Kizzy" Shanta Corbett is an American viral immunologist. She is an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Shutzer Assistant Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute since June 2021.
Katalin "Kati" Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist who specializes in ribonucleic acid (RNA)-mediated mechanisms,particularly in vitro-transcribed messenger RNA (mRNA) for protein replacement therapy. Karikólaid the scientific groundwork for mRNA vaccines,overcoming major obstacles and skepticism in the scientific community. Karikóreceived the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023 for her work,along with American immunologist Drew Weissman.
Drew Weissman is an American physician and immunologist known for his contributions to RNA biology. Weissman is the inaugural Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research,director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation,and professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).
SM-102 is a synthetic amino lipid which is used in combination with other lipids to form lipid nanoparticles. These are used for the delivery of mRNA-based vaccines,and in particular SM-102 forms part of the drug delivery system for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Flagship Pioneering is an American life sciences venture capital company based in Cambridge,Massachusetts that invests in biotechnology,life sciences,health and sustainability companies. Portfolio companies include Moderna,Indigo Agriculture,Inari Agriculture and Novomer. The firm both funds and incubates companies.
The CureVac COVID-19 vaccine was a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by CureVac N.V. and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The vaccine showed inadequate results in its Phase III trials with only 47% efficacy. In October 2021 CureVac abandoned further development and production plans for CVnCoV and refocused efforts on a cooperation with GlaxoSmithKline.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is an advisory body that provides the Government of Canada with medical and scientific advice relating to human immunization.
Robert Wallace Malone is an American physician and biochemist. His early work focused on mRNA technology,pharmaceuticals,and drug repurposing research. During the COVID-19 pandemic,Malone promoted misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Anti-vaccination activists and other people in many countries have spread a variety of unfounded conspiracy theories and other misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines based on misunderstood or misrepresented science,religion,and law. These have included exaggerated claims about side effects,misrepresentations about how the immune system works and when and how COVID-19 vaccines are made,a story about COVID-19 being spread by 5G,and other false or distorted information. This misinformation has proliferated and may have made many people averse to vaccination. This has led to governments and private organizations around the world introducing measures to incentivize or coerce vaccination,such as lotteries,mandates,and free entry to events,which has in turn led to further misinformation about the legality and effect of these measures themselves.
Katherine Luzuriaga is an American physician and pediatric immunologist who primarily works on HIV/AIDS at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). She is currently a vice provost at UMMS and the director of the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikóand Drew Weissman "for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19".