--- description: Find out why Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt231b66b34bbd2ce6/698a3be1d075335c68e6dea1/Ozlem-Tureci-Ugur-Sahin-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin by Walter Isaacson  Luca Locatelli for TIME The inspiring scientific story of [creating a COVID-19 vaccine in 2020](https://time.com/5927342/mrna-covid-vaccine/ "undefined") was accompanied by an equally inspiring human story. [Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin](https://time.com/5955247/inside-biontech-vaccine-facility/ "undefined"), a German couple from Turkish immigrant families, were researching ways to fight cancer by harnessing mRNA, the molecule that tells our cells which proteins to build. When Sahin first read about COVID, he and Tureci developed a way to deploy mRNA to tell our cells how to build a facsimile of the coronavirus’ spike protein, thus priming our immune system to fight the disease. Their company, BioNTech, partnered with Pfizer to test and distribute the vaccine. Now Tureci and Sahin have turned their [attention back to cancer](https://time.com/6240538/mrna-cancer-vaccine-moderna/ "undefined"). This year, some of their immunotherapy cancer vaccines went into clinical trials in Britain. But through it all, even as their stake in BioNTech made them billionaires, they still enjoy riding their old bicycles to spend time working in their lab. _Isaacson, a former managing editor of TIME, is the author of_ The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin Is on the 2023 TIME 100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/"},"headline":"Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:03.512Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt231b66b34bbd2ce6/698a3be1d075335c68e6dea1/Ozlem-Tureci-Ugur-Sahin-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt231b66b34bbd2ce6/698a3be1d075335c68e6dea1/Ozlem-Tureci-Ugur-Sahin-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/","name":"Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270459/ozlem-tureci-and-ugur-sahin/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```