Nobel Prize in medicine goes to 3 scientists unlocking secrets of immune system

Stockholm (Web Desk/Agencies): The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to three scientists for their pioneering research on the human immune system. Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi received the honor for their discoveries related to peripheral immune tolerance, shedding light on why the body usually avoids attacking itself.

Mary E. Brunkow, 64, works as a senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Fred Ramsdell, also 64, is a scientific adviser at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco. Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi, 74, is a distinguished professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University in Japan.

Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee, highlighted the significance of their work, stating, “These discoveries have been crucial in understanding how the immune system operates and why serious autoimmune diseases do not affect everyone.”

The announcement was made Monday at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, marking the first of the 2025 Nobel Prize awards. The Nobel Prize in Physics will be revealed on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wednesday, Literature on Thursday, Peace on Friday, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on October 13.

The awards will be formally presented on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prizes in 1896. The three laureates will share a prize fund of 11 million Swedish kronor, roughly $1.2 million.