From COVID to Cancer: The Extraordinary Potential of mRNA
About this episode
Dr. Steve Pascolo discusses the potential of mRNA technology in medicine, its history, and future applications.
What happens when you volunteer to be the first human injected with mRNA? For Dr. Steve Pascolo, it meant glowing skin, but it took many years for this technology to hit the mainstream. In this episode of Balancing the Future , Micah and Chai speak with Dr. Steve Pascolo, a senior scientist in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Zurich and co-founder of CureVac, about his groundbreaking role in testing mRNA back in 2003. They explore why the scientific community was sceptical for so long, how COVID-19 changed everything, and why mRNA could hold the key to treating not just infectious diseases, but also cancer, autoimmune conditions, and even aging. They also dig into the technical and practical realities of working with mRNA: the challenges of stability, the role of lipid nanoparticles, and the lessons learned from scaling production during the pandemic. Steve shares how chemical synthesis, AI, and cross-disciplinary collaboration could accelerate the next wave of mRNA therapies. His advice for young scientists is simple but powerful: true breakthroughs require teamwork across fields, from chemistry and biology to medicine and computer science. The future of mRNA…
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