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Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for making molecule discoveries that helped create COVID-19 vaccines.
两位科学家因发现有助于制造新冠疫苗的分子而获得诺贝尔医学奖。
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute announced the winners Monday.
周一，瑞典卡罗林斯卡学院诺贝尔奖委员会公布了获奖者名单。
They are Hungarian-American Katalin Kariko and American Drew Weissman.
他们是匈牙利裔美国科学家卡塔林·考里科和美国科学家德鲁·韦斯曼。
Members of the assembly praised the two scientists for assisting in "the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times."
委员会成员称赞这两位科学家“在现代人类健康面临最大威胁之一的情况下，为前所未有的速度开发疫苗作出了贡献”。
Kariko and Weissman have long cooperated on research while working as professors at the University of Pennsylvania.
考里科和韦斯曼在宾夕法尼亚大学担任教授期间一直合作研究。
The two centered on a technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA.
这两位科学家的研究重点是一种名为信使核糖核酸的技术。
Technology companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna used mRNA to create their COVID-19 vaccines.
辉瑞-德国生物新技术公司与莫德纳公司等科技公司使用信使核糖核酸制造了新冠疫苗。
The vaccines were deployed around the world to fight the disease.
这些疫苗被部署在世界各地以抗击这种疾病。
The Nobel organization said the two scientists had changed "our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system."
诺贝尔奖委员会称，这两位科学家改变了“我们对信使核糖核酸如何与免疫系统相互作用的理解”。
Vaccine makers usually add elements of an inactive or weakened virus to the shot mixture.
疫苗制造商通常在疫苗混合物中加入非活性病毒成分。
But with mRNA vaccines, scientists instead create a genetic material to direct the human body to produce antibodies and recognize and destroy the virus.
但有了信使核糖核酸疫苗，科学家反而创造了一种遗传物质来指导人体产生抗体，识别并摧毁病毒。
Research on mRNA has gone on for about 30 years.
对信使核糖核酸的研究已经进行了大约30年。
But no mRNA vaccine was developed and approved for use on people until the COVID-19 pandemic.
但直到新冠疫情爆发后才开发出信使核糖核酸疫苗并批准在人体上注射使用该疫苗。
In early experiments, researchers discovered that injecting laboratory-grown mRNA into animals usually led to a body reaction that destroyed it.
在早期的实验中，研究人员发现，将实验室培养的信使核糖核酸注射到动物体内通常会导致身体产生破坏它的反应。
But Kariko and Weissman found a way to make a small change, or modification, to the building blocks of RNA that permitted it to survive immune defenses in the body.
但考里科和韦斯曼找到了一种方法，利用这种方法可以对核糖核酸的构建块进行微小的修改，使其能够在体内的免疫防御中存活下来。
Their discovery was seen as breaking a major barrier because it showed that mRNA technology could be used as a treatment in humans.
他们的发现被视为突破了一个主要障碍，因为它表明信使核糖核酸技术可以用于人类的治疗。
The 68-year-old Kariko is the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize in medicine.
现年68岁的考里科是第13位获得诺贝尔医学奖的女性。
She was a vice president at BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to make one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
她曾担任德国生物新技术公司的副总裁，该公司与辉瑞公司合作生产了一种新冠疫苗。
She and the 64-year-old Weissman met by chance in the 1990s at the University of Pennsylvania.
20世纪90年代，她和64岁的韦斯曼在宾夕法尼亚大学偶然相遇。
Kariko noted that her husband was first to pick up the early morning call about the news.
考里科指出，她的丈夫是第一个接到关于这一消息的清晨电话的。
She said she then watched the announcement to make sure it was true.
她说，她随后看了公告，以确保这是真的。
"I was very much surprised. But I am very happy."
“我很惊讶，但我很高兴。”
In reaction to his prize, Weissman said, "The future is just so incredible. We've been thinking for years about everything that we could do with RNA, and now it's here."
对于获奖，韦斯曼说：“未来太不可思议了。我们多年来一直在思考我们可以利用核糖核酸做的所有事情，现在有了成果。”
The two researchers have cooperated for many years, with Kariko centering on RNA and Weissman studying related immunology.
这两位研究人员已经合作多年，考里科专注于研究核糖核酸，韦斯曼研究相关免疫学。
"We educated each other," Kariko said.
考里科说：“我们互相教育”。
The prize comes with an award of $1 million.
该奖项的奖金为100万美元。
An award ceremony for all the Nobel awards, except the Peace Prize, is set for December 10 in Stockholm.
除和平奖外，所有诺贝尔奖的颁奖仪式将于12月10日在斯德哥尔摩举行。
The Peace Prize ceremony will take place in Norway's capital, Oslo.
和平奖颁奖典礼将在挪威首都奥斯陆举行。
Other Nobel announcements will be made this week.
其他诺贝尔奖得主将于本周公布。
The prize in physics will be announced Tuesday.
物理学奖将于周二公布。
Chemistry will be announced Wednesday, while literature will be awarded on Thursday.
化学奖将于周三公布，文学奖将于周四公布。
The Nobel Peace Prize is set to be announced Friday.
诺贝尔和平奖将于周五公布。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
