The Anne Eyes Lecture: mRNA Explained by Jeff Coller, PhD

About the Event

The Anne Eyes Science Lecture returns with one of the most consequential stories in modern medicine: the science of mRNA, the technology behind the COVID-19 vaccines, and its breathtaking potential to cure thousands of diseases that have never had a treatment. Join Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Jeff Coller, PhD, for an evening that moves from laboratory discovery to global health policy, and asks why we now have the technology to cure thousands of rare diseases but still lack the economic model to deliver it.

About the Anne Eyes Science Lecture

The Anne Eyes Science Lecture was established in 2012 by Ray Eyes in honor of his wife Anne, a researcher at Hall-Brooke and Silver Hill. Always free and open to the public, the series has brought some of the most celebrated minds in science to our community, including astrophysicist Brooke D. Simmons, New York Times science columnist Carl Zimmer, technology writer David Pogue, and astronomer Caleb Scharf, among others.

About Jeff Coller, PhD

Jeff Coller is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University and Director of the RNA Innovation Center. His laboratory made the foundational discoveries explaining how messenger RNA, the molecule that carries genetic instructions from DNA to the proteins our cells need, is stabilized across all multicellular life, including humans. That mechanism, hidden inside the genetic code itself, proved critical to the development of the COVID-19 vaccines: the graduate student who helped make the discovery went on to design the mRNA sequence behind Spikevax, the Moderna vaccine.

Coller has spent the years since working to turn that science into medicine. He co-founded Tevard Biosciences to develop treatments for rare genetic diseases, and is a founder of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines, the global industry organization advancing the field. At Johns Hopkins, he leads an initiative to position the university as the world's leader in genetic medicine across science, clinical care, policy, and regulation.

He is also one of the field's most visible public advocates. Through essays in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, STAT, and Fortune, broadcast interviews, and testimony before state legislatures and Congress, Coller works to counter misinformation about mRNA and make the case for sustained investment in it. His New York Times essay, "This May Be the Most Important Medical Story of the Decade," argued that humanity now possesses the technology to cure thousands of rare diseases but lacks the economic model to deliver it. That challenge is the subject of his talk.