MedEvidence! Truth Behind the Data
Welcome to the MedEvidence! podcast, hosted by Dr. Michael Koren. MedEvidence, where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research with both a clinical and research perspective. In this podcast, we will discuss with physicians with extensive experience in patient care and research. How do you know that something works? In medicine, we conduct clinical trials to see if things work! Now, let's get to the Truth Behind the Data. Contact us at www.MedEvidence.com
MedEvidence! Truth Behind the Data
🕗The Nobel Prize and mRNA Technology Ep 143
Get the lowdown on the latest Nobel Prize in medicine, messenger RNA technology. There's a bit of a personal connection too - turns out, Dr. Koren went to college with one of the Nobel laureates.
Dr. Koren's insights on the Nobel-winning research in messenger RNA is enlightening and promises to be a game-changing future for medicine. And it's not just about the COVID-19 vaccines; this technology could also revolutionize treatments for cancer and congestive heart failure!
Learn more about the Noble Prize in Medicine 2023
Be a part of advancing science by participating in clinical research.
Have a question for Dr. Koren? Email him at askDrKoren@MedEvidence.com
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Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired
Thank you for listening!
Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Gettings of WSOS St. Augustine Radio and powered by ENCORE Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. MedEvidence is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and health care. This is MedEvidence.
Kevin Geddings:I always like to start these Monday morning segments with Dr. Michael Koren because he's a big music guy, enjoys music, our music that we play here at WSOS. To see whether or not he has seen that particular artist in concert. James Taylor in concert. Have you seen him?
Dr. Michael Koren:I have. I have actually not too long ago.
Kevin Geddings:Oh, there you go.
Dr. Michael Koren:He played with Jackson Brown in Jacksonville about three years ago. I'm not mistaken, three or four years ago.
Kevin Geddings:I do remember that was at Veterans Arena. Right, it was a pretty big show.
Dr. Michael Koren:It was.
Kevin Geddings:Yeah, I do recall that it was pretty good.
Dr. Michael Koren:Yeah, James Taylor can still sing. He always had just an amazing voice type of a lift lulliance. That is just rare and still has it, and his son is also playing with him now. He was also really good, so it was enjoyable.
Kevin Geddings:Jackson Brown. By the way, today is his birthday, Dr. Koren. I didn't know that 75 years young and still out there performing, doing great. Dr. Michael Koren is with us, of course, with ENCORE Clinical Research. He is a medical doctor, a research scientist as well, and we talk with him about medical information, health care information. We talk about all these studies and things like that. Some interesting information. This is the Nobel Prize season every couple of days an other Nobel Prizes awarded, and last week there was one awarded in the field of medicine Right, Dr. Koren.
Dr. Michael Koren:Yeah, it's funny. Actually, while we were talking last Monday, the Nobel Committee was also talking and they announced the fact that the Nobel Prize was awarded in medicine for discoveries related to messenger RNA technology and our ability to use that to help literally millions of patients.
Kevin Geddings:Right and Weissman. It's a husband and wife medical doctor research team.
Dr. Michael Koren:They're based at the University of Pennsylvania but they've been doing a lot of research, I don't think they're husband and wife.
Kevin Geddings:Oh, no, no, no okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:I don't think so, but so it was a woman PhD named , who's from Hungary. She actually escaped Hungary during communist times with literally incredibly small amounts of resources. They say that she hid some cash in a teddy bear to get it through the border guards to get out of Hungary. It's the story that she had about $250 to her name and then she stuffed it in the teddy bear and she met Drew Weissman at a copying machine at the University of Pennsylvania and they started talking about the challenges of RNA, and the crazy part of the story for me is that Drew Weissman was my college classmate.
Dr. Michael Koren:So, I've known Drew Weissman since I'm 18 years old and it's always fun to have a personal connection to these stories. So the other really interesting thing and I think this is helpful for the audience is that messenger RNA is the body's email system. It's the way that our body sends messages to different parts of the cell and our body also destroys these messages right away. So a typical scenario is that a messenger RNA signal is sent and then shortly after we have these sort of enzymes that break it down. And because of this system, our medical world was having difficulty using messenger RNA in a practical way for therapeutics. And the discovery of Dr. and Dr. Weissman was that if you make a very modest change in the chemical structure of messenger RNA which some animals do anyhow then all of a sudden the messenger RNA becomes more stable, it does not cause inflammation and then becomes a useful tool for therapeutics. It's a pretty remarkable discovery, simple in some ways, but just a very slight structural change of messenger RNA makes it a very useful therapeutic.
Kevin Geddings:Wow, wow. And of course we're learning too because of this research, that this messenger RNA can help perhaps with some advances for even cancer treatment. It's not just about COVID vaccines, right.
Dr. Michael Koren:That's exactly right. Obviously, covid vaccines was where it got all its initial publicity, but the technology was sort of discovered about 15 years ago and Dr. and Dr. Weissman were having the hardest time getting traction on it. And then, lo and behold, a few companies picked it up. There was some other modifications of it, in fairness to other scientists who participated in developing this technology.
Dr. Michael Koren:And then they found it was just an amazing way to tell the body what to do in terms of creating a protein and then using that protein to signal the immune system to protect the body against the virus. But, to your point, it's being used in many, many different ways. In fact, I was at a meeting this weekend down in Miami, looking at how we can use this technology to help people with congestive heart failure.
Kevin Geddings:Wow.
Dr. Michael Koren:And we'll be enrolling in a study that uses this technology for congestive heart failure in the weeks ahead.
Kevin Geddings:Yeah well, and indeed that's one of the reasons we have Dr. Koren on each and every week is to encourage you to consider participating in leading edge medical research, and you can do that through ENCORE Research Center, and they have a facility right here in St. John's County near UF Flagler Hospital. All you have to do is go to ENCOREdoc. com to see what leading edge research you can participate in. You may even be eligible for some compensation. You'll definitely get some of the best healthcare one-on-one personalized healthcare that you ever have received, so I highly encourage you to do that. I've participated in this research, and so has Karen on our team, and we both have had a great experience. Go to ENCOREdocs. c om. And of course, I want to remind folks, too, that when you're just looking for you know good, reliable medical information, they should check out another website, MedEvidence. com. Right, Dr. Koren?
Dr. Michael Koren:It's a platform that we use to help people unravel the truth in healthcare. There are so many competing claims out there that I think consumers need a place where they can hear doctors discuss the issues and really understand where they fit in, where their family fits in, in terms of making medical decisions?
Kevin Geddings:Yeah, absolutely so. Did you text your friend after you know he won the Nobel and said, hey, congratulations on that little prize thingy.
Dr. Michael Koren:I wouldn't call him a friend. I know him, so it's a little bit of a difference. So no I did not text him, but I do know him. I went to a college where there was about you know 100 pre-medical students, so we all know each other and I wouldn't call him my friend, but we certainly knew of each other.
Kevin Geddings:So it's funny. As a layman on the outside looking in, I think of Nobel Prize in medicine. I mean that's like winning the Heisman in football. Is that really what it's like in your world when somebody wins a Nobel Prize?
Dr. Michael Koren:It's huge, it is absolutely huge. My university's celebrating it and you know it really is the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, in fact bigger. You get a $10 prize in addition to getting all the publicity.
Kevin Geddings:Yeah, the Heisman they don't get you any cash, you just get a little trophy but the Nobel Prize, and then for the rest of your life you're a they always. That's how they introduce you, right? Nobel Prize winner comma your name, which is pretty darn impressive.
Dr. Michael Koren:And then you know, it is true, that some Heisman Trophy winners don't really make it in the pros. So, whereas if you get a Nobel Prize, you're pretty much set for the rest of your life.
Kevin Geddings:Yeah, no, that's true, we could name some names, but that would upset some Florida fans, so we won't do that. Dr. Michael Koren, of course we always enjoy our time with him each and every Monday morning. Thank you for that information, of course, and everything else that you do for us, and go to ENCOREdocs. com. That's ENCOREdocs. com, Dr. We hope you have a great day, same to you always a pleasure.
Narrator:Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
