Professor Dr Özlem Türeci

Research interests: Immunology, immunotherapy, molecular medicine
Özlem Türeci is a physician and basic researcher in the field of immunology. She researches target structures with a view to developing new treatments for cancer, infectious diseases and diseases of the immune and nervous systems. Together with Uğur Şahin, with whom she co-founded the biotechnology company BioNTech, she developed the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty against COVID-19, and in doing so became one of the leading figures in the fight against the pandemic.
Over the last 20 years, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin have solved several of the challenges associated with mRNA vaccines. They have developed methods for delivering mRNA to dendritic cells using a suitable lipid carrier; improved the stability of the mRNA; and increased the level of protein transfer by 1000 times.
In addition to developing diagnostics and monoclonal antibodies – including zolbetuximab, an antibody that targets gastric and oesophageal cancer – Özlem Türeci has also focussed her research efforts on mRNA-based immunotherapy. This area of her work looks at developing targeted cancer medications as well as immunotherapeutic vaccines against diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV. Since co-founding both Ganymed Pharmaceuticals and BioNTech, she has worked on numerous projects in the fields of oncology and vaccines and is co-inventor of more than 500 patents. During the development of BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 (brand name Comirnaty), she was responsible for organising the clinical trials. She and Uğur Şahin have since received numerous prizes from around the world in recognition of their achievement.