Kizzmekia Corbett(1986 — ?)
Kizzmekia Corbett
États-Unis
9 min read
An American immunologist, Kizzmekia Corbett played a central role in developing the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 at the NIH. Her work ushered in a new era in vaccination.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1986 in North Carolina, she grew up in a modest household before developing a passion for science
- Joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Dr. Barney Graham's laboratory to study coronaviruses
- In 2020, she co-led the team that designed the stabilized spike protein, the key component of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
- The Moderna mRNA vaccine, born from her research, received emergency authorization in December 2020
- In 2021, she joined Harvard as an assistant professor to continue her research in vaccine immunology
Works & Achievements
Corbett's principal achievement: the design of the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 in record time, in collaboration with Moderna. This vaccine, based on the stabilized spike protein, demonstrated 94.1% efficacy and received emergency authorization in December 2020, contributing to saving millions of lives.
Foundational work conducted with Barney Graham on stabilizing the coronavirus spike protein. This preliminary research, carried out well before the pandemic, made possible the ultra-rapid design of the COVID-19 vaccine from January 2020 onward.
A landmark scientific paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the promising results of the first clinical trials of the mRNA-1273 vaccine, validating the mRNA approach for combating COVID-19.
Publication in the NEJM of the definitive results of the Phase 3 clinical trial involving more than 30,000 participants, confirming 94.1% efficacy and the favorable safety profile of the Moderna vaccine, leading to its emergency authorization.
Article published in Nature explaining how the prototype pathogen preparedness strategy enabled the accelerated design of the vaccine, laying the theoretical foundations for a pan-coronavirus approach to future pandemics.
At Harvard, Corbett leads an ambitious program aimed at developing vaccines capable of protecting against the entire coronavirus family, seeking to prepare humanity for future pandemics before they even occur.
Anecdotes
Kizzmekia Corbett grew up in the small rural town of Hurdle Mills, North Carolina, where a high school biology teacher recognized her exceptional talent. That teacher personally encouraged her to apply to selective science programs, changing the course of her life and steering her toward a career she might never have imagined from that modest community in the American South.
When the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was published on January 10, 2020, Corbett's team at the NIH Vaccine Research Center immediately put their other work on hold. In just 66 days, an mRNA vaccine candidate was ready for the first human clinical trials — an absolute record in the history of vaccinology, made possible by years of preparatory research on coronaviruses.
In December 2020, Kizzmekia Corbett took part in a virtual meeting with President-elect Joe Biden to explain, in plain terms, how the mRNA vaccine worked ahead of its emergency authorization. This symbolic encounter illustrated just how central science had become to the political response to the pandemic.
Aware of the deep-rooted distrust many African American communities hold toward the medical establishment — rooted in part in the Tuskegee scandal — Corbett multiplied public appearances, videos, and direct conversations with these communities to explain the vaccine's safety. Her personal commitment as a Black woman scientist helped improve vaccination rates among populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
In 2021, Kizzmekia Corbett joined Harvard University as an associate professor at the School of Public Health, one of the youngest scientists to hold such a position there. She now leads her own laboratory and continues research on pan-coronavirus vaccines, aiming to prepare the world for future pandemics before they even arrive.
Primary Sources
A Phase 1 trial was conducted involving healthy adults who received two vaccinations, 28 days apart, with mRNA-1273. The vaccine induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified.
The mRNA-1273 vaccine showed 94.1% efficacy at preventing Covid-19 illness, including severe disease. Aside from transient local and systemic reactions, no safety concerns were identified.
Structure-based design of mRNA vaccines encoding prefusion-stabilized spike glycoproteins proved immunogenic and protective against multiple betacoronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, validating the prototype pathogen approach.
We have been working on coronavirus vaccines since 2017, studying the spike protein of SARS-like coronaviruses. This foundational work enabled us to move rapidly when SARS-CoV-2 emerged in January 2020.
Key Places
A small rural town where Kizzmekia Corbett grew up and where a teacher first recognized her scientific talent. This place symbolizes her remarkable journey: from a modest community in the American South to the highest levels of global biomedical research.
The U.S. government research institute where Corbett developed the mRNA-1273 vaccine against COVID-19. It was in its high-tech laboratories that the team worked around the clock in 2020 to design and test the vaccine in a historically record-breaking timeframe.
Harvard University's renowned school of public health, where Corbett has led her own laboratory since 2021 — the Corbett Lab — dedicated to developing broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines to prevent future pandemics.
The university where Corbett completed her undergraduate studies in biology, conducting her first research experiments and developing her passion for immunology and virology.
The university where Corbett earned her doctorate in microbiology and immunology, refining the techniques and theoretical knowledge that would later enable her to develop the COVID-19 vaccine.
