Zinkernagel, Rolf Martin (1944-…), a Swiss immunologist, made important discoveries concerning the function of the human immune system. In 1974, Zinkernagel and Australian immunologist Peter C. Doherty were investigating the function of special cells called T lymphocytes. These cells recognize and destroy foreign substances and microorganisms as well as cells in the body that have been infected with viruses.
Scientists wondered how T lymphocytes could recognize and destroy virus-infected cells while not attacking the body’s own healthy cells. Zinkernagel and Doherty discovered that T lymphocytes react to two separate signals from an infected cell before they are activated to begin an immune reaction. The first signal enables a T lymphocyte to recognize that a cell is from the individual’s own body, while the second signal only occurs when the cell is infected with a virus. Only T lymphocytes that receive both signals will be activated to destroy the cell. This prevents the cells of the immune system from attacking the body’s own healthy cells. For this work, Zinkernagel and Doherty shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1996.
Zinkernagel was born on Jan. 6, 1944, in Riehen, a village near Basel, Switzerland. He studied medicine at the University of Basel, receiving his M.D. in 1970. From 1973 to 1975, he studied microbiology at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he received a Ph.D. After short periods at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, Zinkernagel took a position at the University of Zurich, becoming a professor in 1988. Since 1992, he has been the director of the Institute of Experimental Immunology in Zurich.
See also Immune system (The cell-mediated immune response) .
