Biography
Emil Raphael Unanue (September 13, 1934 – December 16, 2022 [ 1 ] ) was a Cuban-American immunologist and Paul & Ellen Lacy Professor Emeritus at Washington University School of Medicine . He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine . He previously served as chair of the National Academy of Sciences Section of Microbiology and Immunology. Unanue initiated a field of study known as antigen presentation ; it is critical to the development of vaccines and underlies an understanding of microbial immunity and autoimmune diseases . In the late 1970s, it was recognized that T lymphocytes could not recognize antigen directly and instead required an interaction with another specialized cell known as the Antigen-presenting cell . Nobel Prize winners, Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter C. Doherty showed that this recognition also required the antigen-presenting cell to be from the same genetic background as the T-cell. That observation, called MHC restriction , led to a conundrum; namely, that the ability of a T cell to recognize foreign antigen also required that it recognize "self" Fields: Immunologist
About the Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (a medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels."
Quick Facts
- Award: Lasker Award - Basic Medical Research
- Added: 2026-02-07
- Source: Wikipedia
- Established: 1946
- Presented by: Lasker Foundation