Rolf m zinkernagel biography of christopher paul

Rolf M. Doherty AAI '76 for "their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defense. While examining immune reactions in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus LCMV from to , Zinkernagel and Doherty found that virus-killing T lymphocytes taken from one mouse and injected into another could destroy infected cells only if the two mice belonged to the same strain.

Rolf m zinkernagel biography of christopher paul: Rolf M. Zinkernagel Rolf

They discovered that T cells have to identify two kinds of molecules on the cell surface before they can actually recognize infected cells. One type of molecule is the viral antigen, and the other is a molecule from the major histocompatibility complex MHC , a set of genes and proteins unique to each individual. As early as the s, researchers had noted variances in MHC proteins in cases where organ transplants were rejected, but the basis for the central role MHC played in determining the success of a transplant was not understood.

Zinkernagel and Doherty uncovered the biological function of MHC proteins when they observed that these proteins served as a surveillance system to distinguish self from non-self. The strongest T cell responses were elicited by targets that were not completely foreign but were instead recognized as "altered self," consisting of a self-MHC protein attached to a non-self antigen.

This discovery fundamentally altered our understanding of how the immune system operates and has opened the way to advances in the areas of transplantation, vaccine development, and treatment of autoimmune and infectious diseases. In subsequent work, Zinkernagel built upon his research with Doherty in his own laboratory. In the late s, he elucidated the role of MHC in the thymus gland in selecting white blood cells for survival and maturation.

More recently, he turned his attention to the co-evolution of viruses and their host immune systems.