Katalin Kariko, the Hungary-born scientist who was behind the groundwork for the mRNA based COVID-19 vaccines, was recognised in her motherland in the form of a big mural created in central Budapest. The scientist took it to Twitter to share the picture of the mural which has taken her by surprise. Here’s how it looks.

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The portrait is a collaboration between Színes Városcreated the Brain Bar. Kariko is the senior vice president at the German company BioNTech which with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer developed one of the most effective coronavirus jabs the world has today.

The mural is erected to pay tribute to the scientists for their huge scientific endeavours as coronavirus vaccines are the world’s only hope in the fight against COVID.

After 12 days of work, a painter was putting the finishing touches to her lips on the portrait on Saturday afternoon. By Monday a slogan will be added too: “The future is written by Hungarians”.

Gergely Boszormenyi-Nagy, founder of the company Brain Bar, who is the person to come up with the idea of her mural told Reuters, “Katalin Kariko is a true Hungarian role model, who is an example not just by helping to develop the vaccine … but also by proving to the young generation of Hungarians that as a Hungarian it is possible to achieve a very positive effect in the world.”

Kariko was the one to head the team that created a blueprint for mRNA based vaccines that went on to become a huge weapon in the fight against coronavirus. 

Also Read: Messenger RNA: How a long shot idea led to COVID-19 vaccines

mRNA vaccine, scientifically known as ribonucleic acid vaccine or messenger RNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA to trigger an immune response.

To trigger an immune response against a particular virus, in this case, coronavirus, mRNA vaccines trigger molecules to teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.