Professor Gregory Gregoriadis, the pioneering scientist whose foundational work on fat particles directly enabled the development of modern mRNA Covid vaccines, has died at the age of 91.
The Groundbreaking Discovery
His family confirmed that the esteemed biochemist passed away on Friday at a care home in Brighton. Born in Athens, Greece, Prof Gregoriadis had been a UK resident for more than five decades and also held a Canadian passport.
In 1971, while working with colleague Brenda Ryman at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Gregoriadis co-authored a seminal paper. It pioneered the use of liposomes – tiny spherical bubbles of fat – for targeting drugs within the body.
His critical insight was that encasing vaccines within these lipid layers could dramatically boost their effectiveness by stimulating the production of more antibodies. This concept was further solidified in a landmark 1974 study published in Nature magazine, which demonstrated liposomes could act as powerful "immunological adjuvants" to enhance vaccine efficacy.
A Legacy Realised Decades Later
This work, conducted half a century ago, laid the essential groundwork for the lipid nanoparticle delivery system used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccines rolled out globally from 2020.
In 2021, reflecting on the pivotal role of his early research in combating the pandemic, Prof Gregoriadis told the Press Association he found it "very satisfying". He stated: "When you are a scientist, you tend to ignore the emotional part of it. I’m proud that the vaccine technology has its origins in the work we first carried out in London 50 years ago."
A Life of Science and Family
He was Professor Emeritus at the UCL School of Pharmacy (formerly the London School of Pharmacy) and held a Doctor of Science degree from the University of London.
In a statement, his family said: "We are immensely proud of his scientific work, which means he leaves a great legacy. Just as importantly to us he was very much a family man and kind and charismatic figure who impacted many lives both directly and indirectly."
Professor Gregory Gregoriadis's visionary research stands as a powerful testament to how fundamental, curiosity-driven science can yield world-changing applications decades later, saving millions of lives during a global health crisis.
