{"entity":{"id":"ugur-sahin","kind":"person","name":"Uğur Şahin","aka":[],"tldr":"Immunologist who built individualised mRNA neoantigen vaccines for cancer, the platform later used for COVID-19.","summary":"Uğur Şahin led the 2017 Nature trial showing individualised mRNA vaccines encoding each patient's mutations induce T-cell responses in melanoma, the proof of concept for personalised cancer vaccines now in phase 2 and 3 trials with autogene cevumeran in pancreatic and colorectal cancer. He co-founded BioNTech with Özlem Türeci and continues academic work in Mainz on mRNA, CAR-T and bispecific therapies.","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C4%9Fur_%C5%9Eahin","links":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Sahin%20U%5BAuthor%5D%20mRNA%20vaccine%20neoantigen"}],"tags":["vaccine","mrna","immunotherapy"],"related":[],"cancers":["melanoma","pancreatic"],"sections":[],"technologies":["neoantigen-mrna-vaccine"],"targets":[],"drugs":["autogene-cevumeran"],"companies":[],"institutions":["uct-mainz"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-rojas-mrna-neoantigen-vaccine-pancreatic-nature-2023"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Professor of Translational Oncology, University Medical Center Mainz; Co-founder and CEO, BioNTech","institutionId":"uct-mainz","specialisms":["mRNA cancer vaccines","Neoantigen immunotherapy","Translational oncology","Individualised therapy"],"profiles":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Sahin%20U%5BAuthor%5D%20mRNA%20vaccine%20neoantigen"}],"papers":[{"title":"Personalized RNA mutanome vaccines mobilize poly-specific therapeutic immunity against cancer","journal":"Nature","year":2017,"doi":"10.1038/nature23003"},{"title":"An RNA vaccine drives immunity in checkpoint-inhibitor-treated melanoma","journal":"Nature","year":2020,"doi":"10.1038/s41586-020-2537-9"},{"title":"Rojas 2023: a personalised mRNA vaccine trained T cells against each patient's pancreatic cancer, and those who responded stayed cancer-free longer","journal":"Nature","year":2023,"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Personalized%20RNA%20neoantigen%20vaccines%20stimulate%20T%20cells%20in%20pancreatic%20cancer%20Rojas%20Nature%202023"}],"orcid":"0000-0003-0363-1564"},"route":"/people/ugur-sahin/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"technology":[{"id":"neoantigen-mrna-vaccine","kind":"technology","name":"Personalised neoantigen (mRNA) vaccines","route":"/technologies/neoantigen-mrna-vaccine/"}],"drug":[{"id":"autogene-cevumeran","kind":"drug","name":"Autogene cevumeran","route":"/drugs/autogene-cevumeran/"}],"institution":[{"id":"uct-mainz","kind":"institution","name":"University Cancer Center Mainz (UCT Mainz) / Universitätsmedizin Mainz","route":"/institutions/uct-mainz/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-sethna-rna-neoantigen-vaccine-long-lived-t-cells-nature-2025","kind":"paper","name":"RNA neoantigen vaccines prime long-lived CD8+ T cells in pancreatic cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-sethna-rna-neoantigen-vaccine-long-lived-t-cells-nature-2025/"},{"id":"paper-rojas-mrna-neoantigen-vaccine-pancreatic-nature-2023","kind":"paper","name":"Rojas 2023: a personalised mRNA vaccine trained T cells against each patient's pancreatic cancer, and those who responded stayed cancer-free longer","route":"/key-papers/paper-rojas-mrna-neoantigen-vaccine-pancreatic-nature-2023/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"pancreatic-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Pancreatic cancer roadmap: from Whipple's operation to gemcitabine, FOLFIRINOX, adjuvant chemotherapy, PARP inhibition, KRAS inhibition, vaccines and the surveillance question","route":"/roadmaps/pancreatic-roadmap/"}]}}