MRNA Vaccine
MRNA Vaccine is series of collegiate quizbowl sets aimed at 2-dot difficulty, started by members of the Vanderbilt quizbowl club in collaboration with others, including many Canadian writers. Its name is a jocular reference to the lifesaving vaccine which enabled in-person quizbowl to resume after its suspension by COVID-19.
MRNA VACCINE
The initial MRNA VACCINE (Medium RaNge Academic, a Vanderbilt and Company Collaboration vIa NEtwork) was a college set written for Spring 2022 by members of the Vanderbilt quiz bowl club, in collaboration with others, including many Canadian writers. It was aimed at 2 dots, which they compared to 2020 LIT and 2019 Terrapin.
| MRNA VACCINE Medium RaNge Academic, a Vanderbilt and Company Collaboration vIa NEtwork | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2021-2022 |
| Head editor(s) | Eric Mukherjee |
| Difficulty | 2 dots |
| First mirror | 1/15/2022 |
| Announcement | link |
| Packets | link |
Editors
Eric Mukherjee (Head, Biology, Chemistry, Physics), Chandler West (Logistics, American literature, World literature, Painting/Sculpture), Conor Thompson (Religion, Other science, Geography/Current Events/"other academic"), Erik Christensen (European history, Ancient/Other history, Philosophy), Ganon Evans (World history, American history), Chris Sims (Auditory arts), Jacob O'Rourke (European + Classical literature), Henry Atkins (British literature), Jaimie Carlson (Mythology), Sam Bailey (Social Science), and Will Grossman (Other Visual Arts).
Writers
Gerhardt Hinkle, Vikshar Athreya, Andrew Hanna, David Bass, Owen Riley, Lia Rathburn, Beni Keown, Vishal Puppala, Aidan Fein, Jacob Augelli, Liam Thompson, Will Alston, Michael Borecki, Sharath Narayan, Zachary Beickman, Rebecca Thomas, Bryanna Shao, and Willie Chen.
Results
| Tournament Name | Host / Site | Location | Date | Teams | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Playtest | Online | Online | 1/15/2022 | 10 | Stats |
| Warwick | Online | Online | 2/12/2022 | 14 | Stats |
| Northwestern | Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | 2/12/2022 | 11 | Stats |
| VCU | Virginia Commonwealth University | Richmond, VA | 2/19/2022 | 12 | Stats |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 2/19/2022 | 8 | Stats |
| New College | New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL | 2/19/2022 | 4 | Stats |
| Iowa | University of Iowa | Iowa City, IA | 2/19/2022 | 6 | Stats |
| Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 2/26/2022 | 8 | Stats |
| Johns Hopkins | Online | Online | 2/26/2022 | 10 | Stats |
| RIT (Hosted by Cornell) | Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | 3/5/2022 | 4 | Stats |
| McMaster | Online | Online | 3/12/2022 | 8 | Stats |
| Online Open Mirror | Online | Online | 3/19/2022 | 6 | Stats |
| Harvard | Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | 3/26/2022 | 7 | Stats |
| WUSTL | Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 4/23/2022 | 6 | Stats |
MRNA II
A sequel to MRNA Vaccine, MRNA II: The Second Dose, was played in Spring 2023, with some changes from the original editor lineup.
| MRNA II: The Second Dose Medium RaNge Academic II: The Second Dose | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2022-2023 |
| Head editor(s) | Eric Mukherjee |
| Difficulty | 2 dots |
| First mirror | 2/19/2023 |
| Announcement | link |
| Packets | link |
Editors
Eric Mukherjee (Head, Biology, Chemistry, Other Science, Social Science), David Bass (Physics, Other Science), Chandler West (American history, World literature, Other Visual Arts), Erik Christensen (European history, World history, Other history, Philosophy), Henry Atkins (American literature, British literature, European literature, Ancient literature), Ganon Evans (Painting, Sculpture, Geography/Current events/Other), Gerhardt Hinkle (Music, Opera, Other Audio Arts, Religion, Mythology).
Writers
Jacob O'Rourke, Eve Fleisig, Lia Rathburn, Richard Niu, Aidan Fein, Sean Farrell, Charlotte Goeb, Benjamin Chapman, Bryanna Shao, Paul Kasinski, Jacob Augelli, Tony Chen, Alana Dickey, and Milan Fernandez.
Results
| Tournament Name | Host / Site | Location | Date | Teams | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Playtest | Online | Online | 2/19/2023 | 8 | Stats |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 2/25/2023 | 8 | Stats |
| Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 2/25/2023 | 4 | Stats |
| Cornell | Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | 3/11/2023 | 4 | Stats |
| Carleton | Carleton University | Ottawa, ON Canada | 3/18/2023 | 10 | Stats |
| Waterloo | University of Waterloo | Waterloo, ON Canada | 3/18/2023 | 10 | Stats |
| Boston College | Boston College | Chestnut Hill, MA | 3/25/2023 | 4 | Stats |
| Big Ten Invitational | Online | Online | 3/25/2023 | 4 | Stats |
| University of Texas | Online | Online | 3/26/2023 | 12 | Stats |
| Virginia | University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA | 4/08/2023 | 10 | Stats |
| Florida State | Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL | 4/15/2023 | 4 | Stats |
| WUSTL | Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 4/15/2023 | 16 | Stats |
| Imperial | Imperial College London | London, UK | 6/17/2023 | 14 | Stats |
| Tournament of the Orders | Online | Online | 7/01/2023 | 8 | Stats |
MRNA III
A successor to the MRNA sets, Booster Shot, was head edited by Erik Christensen and played in Spring 2024; it was retroactively dubbed MRNA III: Booster Shot.
| MRNA III: Booster Shot Medium RaNge Academic III: Booster Shot | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2023-2024 |
| Head editor(s) | Erik Christensen |
| Difficulty | 2 dots |
| First mirror | 1/20/2024 |
| Announcement | link |
| Packets | link |
Editors
Erik Christensen (Head, European history, Social science, Film, Philosophy), Ganon Evans (American lit, World history), Gerhardt Hinkle (Biology, Mythology), Jacob O'Rourke (British lit, European lit), Aidan Fein (Auditory fine arts, Visual fine arts, Other fine arts), Lia Rathburn (Religion, Other history), Benjamin Chapman (Physics, Chemistry, Other science), Noah Sheidlower (World lit, American history), and Ian Chow ("Other," Other science).
Writers
Forrest Weintraub, Kane Nguyen, Henry Atkins, Veer Rami, James Wang, Aum Mundhe, Adrian Wong, Joseph Chambers, Mattias Ehatamm, Eric Mukherjee, Jacob Augelli, Chandler West and Lalit Maharjan.
Results
| Tournament Name | Host / Site | Location | Date | Teams | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Playtest | Online | Online | 1/20/2024 | 4 | Stats |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 3/02/2024 | 10 | Stats |
| Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 2/25/2024 | 4 | Stats |
| Columbia | Columbia University | New York, NY | 2/24/2024 | 13 | Stats |
| Indiana | Indiana University | Bloomington, IN | 2/24/2024 | 14 | Stats |
| Waterloo | University of Waterloo | Waterloo, ON Canada | 2/24/2024 | 8 | Stats |
| Ohio State and Ohio University | Online | Online | 3/09/2024 | 14 | Stats |
| Brown | Brown University | Providence, RI | 4/27/2024 | 12 | Stats |
| Southern California | Online | Online | 6/01/2024 | 4 | Stats |
| Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | 2/17/2024 | 8 | Stats |
| Florida State | Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL | 2/24/2024 | 4 | Stats |
| WUSTL | Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 4/13/2024 | 6 | Stats |
| Oklahoma | University of Oklahoma | Norman, OK | 3/09/2024 | 7 | Stats |
| Imperial | Imperial College London | London, UK | 6/15/2024 | 15 | Stats |
| Deep Bench | Oxford University | Oxford, UK | 5/11/2024 | 8 | Stats |
MRNA IV
MRNA IV: Herd Immunity was head-edited by Christensen. It was played in the 2024-2025 competition year.
| MRNA IV: Herd Immunity Medium RaNge Academic IV: Herd Immunity | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2024-2025 |
| Head editor(s) | Erik Christensen |
| Difficulty | 2 dots |
| First mirror | 1/25/2025 |
| Announcement | link |
| Packets | link |
Editors
Erik Christensen (Head, World history, "Other" history, Film, Philosophy), Noah Sheidlower (Social science, World lit, American history), Tony Chen (American lit, British lit, European lit), Lia Rathburn (European history, Mythology, "Other"), Kane Nguyen (Biology, Visual fine arts), Aidan Fein (Auditory fine arts, Other fine arts), James Wang (Chemistry), Andrew McCowan (Religion), Eric Mukherjee (Physics), Ganon Evans (Other science) and Gareth Thorlakson (Vibes).
Writers
Aum Mundhe, Rayton Lin, Jason Zhang, Jared He, Alan Wu, Maude-Sophie Lockman, Yusuf Baig, Veer Rami, Michael Du, Joey Sun, Lalit Maharjan, Russell Nip, Adrian Wong and Jacob O'Rourke.
Results
| Tournament Name | Host / Site | Location | Date | Teams | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Playtest | Online | Online | 1/25/2025 | 8 | Stats |
| British Columbia | Online | Online | 3/09/2025 | 4 | Stats |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 3/22/2025 | 8 | Stats |
| Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 5/10/2025 | 6 | Stats |
| RIT | Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester, NY | 3/29/2025 | 8 | Stats |
| Indiana | Indiana University | Bloomington, IN | 3/29/2025 | 14 | Stats |
| Waterloo | University of Waterloo | Waterloo, ON Canada | 3/22/2025 | 16 | Stats |
| McGill | McGill University | Montreal, PQ Canada | 3/22/2025 | 10 | Stats |
| Brown | Brown University | Providence, RI | 3/09/2025 | 14 | Stats |
| Claremont | Claremont Colleges | Claremont, CA | 6/21/2025 | 4 | Stats |
| Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | 3/01/2025 | 12 | Stats |
| Florida Tech | Florida Institute of Technology | Melbourne, FL | 4/05/2025 | 6 | Stats |
| WUSTL | Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 4/12/2025 | 6 | Stats |
| Duke | Duke University | Durham, NC | 3/29/2025 | 8 | Stats |
| Imperial | Imperial College London | London, UK | 6/14/2025 | 20 | Stats |
| Deep Bench | University of Warwick | Coventry, UK | 5/10/2025 | 8 | Stats |
| UQC All-States Invitational | Online | Online | 5/03/2025 | 14 | Stats |
MRNA V
MRNA V: This Time, It's Personalized Medicine was head-edited by Kane Nguyen to be played in the 2025-2026 competition year.
| MRNA V: This Time, It's Personalized Medicine Medium RaNge Academic V: This Time, It's Personalized Medicine | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2025-2026 |
| Head editor(s) | Kane Nguyen |
| Difficulty | 2 dots |
| First mirror | 12/13/2025 |
| Announcement | link |
Editors
Kane Nguyen (Head, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Other History, Painting and sculpture, Other visual fine arts), Erik Christensen (European history, "Other" Academic, Film, Geography), Noah Sheidlower (Other auditory fine arts, American lit, American and Canadian history), Jacob O'Rourke (European lit), Adrian Wong (World literature), Andrew McCowan (British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand lit, Religion), Lalit Maharjan (Computer science, Mythology), James Wang (Biology, Non-CS Other science), Eric Mukherjee (Philosophy), Michael Du (World history, Current events), Alan Wu (Other history), Jason Zhang (Classical Music and Opera) and Rayton Lin (Social science).
Writers
Nicolas Edwards, Tai Belke, Parth Jagtap, Jared He, Nicolaus Derikx, John Chen, Yusuf Baig, Jacob Bicol, Yihong Chen, David Snoddon, Ben Wismath, Micah Colman, Asha Basu and Stefan Vlad.