Benacerraf, Baruj (1920-2011), a Venezuelan-born American immunologist, shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with fellow American George D. Snell and Jean Dausset from France. They received the prize for discoveries about the genetic regulation of the body’s immune system. See Immune system .
In the late 1940’s, Benacerraf started research into immunology, the study of the body’s defenses against disease and foreign substances. He conducted much research into hypersensitivity (excessive allergic reactions) and other allergic phenomena. His later work covered the system of cells called phagocytes in the spleen, lymph nodes, bone marrow, and liver, that, among other things, free the body of foreign matter. He also researched the properties of antibodies (substances that attack foreign invaders in the body) and diseases of the immune system.
Benacerraf’s experiments demonstrated that some animals produce antibodies in response to synthetic antigens (foreign bodies) while others do not. He discovered a single gene that appeared to control the immune system’s response to infection. Benacerraf also showed that certain structures on the surface of cells that regulated immune responses are genetically determined.
Benacerraf was born on Oct. 29, 1920, in Caracas, Venezuela. His family moved to France during the mid-1920’s and stayed in Paris until World War II (1939-1945). His parents returned to Venezuela, but he was sent to the United States for his education. Benacerraf studied at Columbia University and the Medical College of Virginia, in the United States. He became a United States citizen in 1943. From 1950 to 1956, Benacerraf did research work in Paris. He then returned to the United States to work at New York University School of Medicine, where he became professor of pathology in 1960. He moved to Harvard Medical School in 1970, becoming an emeritus professor in 1991. Benacerraf died on Aug. 2, 2011.
