The Copy Room (Continued)

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Medicine · Public Health · Public Finance · Immigration · health

But something leaving.

She slides the folder shut.

Bibliography

1. . Institut Pasteur. Discovery of mRNA. Accessed August 2025. https://www.pasteur.fr. Classic account of the 1961 Nature papers by François Gros, François Jacob, Sydney Brenner, and Matthew Meselson, credited with officially establishing messenger RNA.

2. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989. Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org. Background on Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman’s discovery of catalytic RNA (ribozymes), showing RNA can be enzyme as well as messenger.

3. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006. Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org. Covers Andrew Fire and Craig Mello’s discovery of RNA interference, revealing how small RNAs regulate gene expression.

4. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org. Explains the work of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman in modifying nucleosides to make therapeutic mRNA usable in vaccines.

5. National Cancer Institute. “Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccines.” Accessed August 2025. https://www.cancer.gov. Summary of ongoing trials using mRNA vaccines for melanoma and other cancers, including the mRNA-4157/V940 program.

6. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “mRNA Vaccines for Pancreatic Cancer.” Press release, 2024. https://www.mskcc.org. Describes early clinical research into mRNA vaccines targeting pancreatic cancer.

7. Polack, Fernando P., et al. “Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine.” New England Journal of Medicine 383, no. 27 (2020): 2603–2615. Landmark phase 3 trial establishing efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

8. Patel, Mehul R., et al. “Inclisiran for LDL Cholesterol Lowering.” New England Journal of Medicine 382, no. 16 (2020): 1507–1519. Key trial of inclisiran, a small interfering RNA drug that lowers LDL cholesterol with infrequent dosing.

9. Adams, David, et al. “Patisiran, an RNAi Therapeutic, for Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis.” New England Journal of Medicine 379, no. 1 (2018): 11–21. First-in-human pivotal trial showing clinical benefit of an RNAi therapy for hATTR amyloidosis.

10. Gillmore, Julian D., et al. “CRISPR-Cas9 In Vivo Gene Editing for Transthyretin Amyloidosis.” New England Journal of Medicine 385, no. 6 (2021): 493–502. Report of first patients dosed with in vivo CRISPR delivered as mRNA + guide RNA in lipid nanoparticles.

11. Watson, Oliver J., et al. “Global Impact of the First Year of COVID-19 Vaccination.” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 22, no. 9 (2022): 1293–1302. Model estimating that vaccines prevented ~20 million deaths in their first year.

12. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS Terminates BARDA mRNA Vaccine Contracts.” Press release, August 2025. https://www.hhs.gov. Announces termination of 22 mRNA vaccine projects under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

13. STAT News. Joseph, Andrew. “NIH Cancels Nearly $1 Billion in mRNA Contracts with Moderna.” STAT , August 2025. Report on federal termination of large-scale mRNA research contracts.

14. American Public Health Association. “For Our Health Coalition: Project 2025 Budget Threatens NIH and CDC.” Policy brief, July 2025. https://www.apha.org. Warns that FY2026 proposals could cut NIH and CDC funding by 40–44 percent.

15. Nature. Subbaraman, Nidhi. “Visa Restrictions Threaten U.S. Biomedical Research.” Nature , August 2025. Feature quoting Harvard’s John Quackenbush calling immigration restrictions “a self-inflicted wound.”

16. WHO. “mRNA Technology Transfer Programme: Phase 2.0.” World Health Organization, 2024. https://www.who.int. Details expansion of mRNA tech training and manufacturing to 15 partner countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

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