Immunology is one of pharma’s greatest not-so-secret weapons, driving breakthroughs across the spectrum from cancer to infectious disease to the rarest conditions.
While researchers’ knowledge of the immune system grows, the complex network of signals and pathways remains difficult to crack. But this year, the Nobel Prize committee has recognized new research into the system, awarding three scientists with the top honor for shining a light on how immunity works within the human body, potentially leading to new discoveries.
Mary Brunkow of the Institute for Systems Biology, Fred Ramsdell of Sonoma Biotherapeutics and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University collected the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this week for their work in immune tolerance, which determines the kinds of targets the immune system tracks and which it ignores.
Sakaguchi’s contribution…