> Over many years of experimentation, it was found that if the U in RNA is replaced by a slightly modified molecule, our immune system loses interest. For real.
The author may have added this in after publishing:
> Many people have asked, could viruses also use the Ψ technique to beat our immune systems? In short, this is extremely unlikely. Life simply does not have the machinery to build 1-methyl-3’-pseudouridylyl nucleotides. Viruses rely on the machinery of life to reproduce themselves, and this facility is simply not there. The mRNA vaccines quickly degrade in the human body, and there is no possibility of the Ψ-modified RNA replicating with the Ψ still in there.
The author is Vincent Racaniello Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University(https://www.virology.ws/about/)
In addition, he is possibly the most prolific podcaster of our time. He's started no less than 6 different podcasts over the last decade or so, collectively known as the TWIx podcasts (This Week in Virology/Microbiology/Parasitology/etc. I'm a huge fan of TWIV, but they're all top-notch.