
After the mRNA is read and the building process begins, the mRNA is quickly destroyed by the cell. Once inside the cell’s cytoplasm, the machinery responsible for building proteins, called the ribosome, reads the mRNA and gets to work making proteins. Unlike DNA, the mRNA can move from the cell’s nucleus to the cytoplasm. mRNAs are created as an exact copy of the segment of DNA found along the genome corresponding to a protein-coding gene. Messenger RNAs (mRNA) are the set of protein-building instructions that can move from the nucleus of the cell to the cytoplasm. Because DNA is so fragile and important, however, an intermediary needs to move this information from the nucleus of the cell, where the genome resides, to the cytoplasm, where the amino acids and molecules that are the building blocks to make these proteins are found. These sequences of nucleotides that make up our genes hold the blueprints for building proteins, the long chains of amino acids that perform the basic functions of life inside a cell, including DNA replication, responding to stimuli, transporting molecules, performing metabolic activities and building cell structures. Inside our cells, the DNA sequences that hold the instructions for each of the roughly 20,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome are safely sequestered inside a cell’s nucleus for protection. The immune system now has the tools to defeat the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The immune system mobilizes and records the shape of the SARS-CoV-2 protein.

The cell uses the mRNA from the vaccine as the blueprint to build the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Spike protein mRNA are injected into the body. Building instructions (mRNA) for the spike protein are identified. Here’s a primer on how mRNA vaccines work. The Medical School is home to the RNA Therapeutics Institute, which employs nucleic acid scientists and clinicians to create a new paradigm for organizing molecular research that enables the rapid application of new biological discoveries to solutions for unmet challenges in human health. The new mRNA vaccines are the first of their kind and researchers at UMass Medical School are among the leading RNA biologists in the world.

Health care workers across the nation this week are the first Americans to receive the new mRNA vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech to protect against COVID-19, and the Moderna vaccine appears soon to follow, with emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration possible any day.
