Scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi are the winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their research related to peripheral immune tolerance, announced the Nobel Committee.
The announcement states that the three of them identified the guardians of the immune system’s safety, that is, the regulatory “T” cells, which prevent immune cells from attacking the body’s own tissues.
“Their discoveries are crucial for understanding the functioning of the immune system, as well as why serious autoimmune diseases do not develop in all of us,” said the chairman of the Nobel Committee, Olle Kempe.
The laureates will share the prize amount of about 1.2 million dollars and receive a gold medal that will be presented by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.
The Nobel Prizes, established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1901, are awarded for outstanding contributions to science, literature, and peace. The Medicine Prize traditionally opens the award season, while the other categories are announced in the coming days.
The award ceremony will be held on December 10th, on the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
Among the previous laureates are scientists such as Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. In recent decades, the award has also recognized key discoveries such as the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
