Baruj Benacerraf

Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011) was a Venezuelan-born American immunologist who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries about genetically determined cell-surface structures that regulate immune responses.

George Snell: An American geneticist whose research on mouse transplantation antigens helped establish the genetic basis of tissue compatibility. His work on histocompatibility genes complemented Benacerraf’s studies of immune-response genes.
Major histocompatibility complex: A gene region encoding cell-surface proteins that present peptide fragments to T cells and influence immune responses. Benacerraf’s genetic studies helped connect immune-response control to this gene region.
Venezuela: A country on the northern coast of South America, where Benacerraf was born in Caracas. Benacerraf’s life began in Caracas before his family moved to France and later the United States.
Human leukocyte antigen: A human cell-surface protein encoded by the major histocompatibility complex that presents peptides to immune cells. Human histocompatibility antigens exemplify the inherited surface structures at the center of the Nobel-recognized discoveries.
Jean Dausset: A French immunologist who identified human leukocyte antigens and shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared Benacerraf’s Nobel Prize for discoveries about genetically determined cell-surface structures.
Immune response genes: Genes that influence whether and how strongly an organism responds to particular antigens. Benacerraf and colleagues mapped antigen-response differences to inherited genes in mice.
Harvard Medical School: A medical school in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1782. Benacerraf earned his medical degree there in 1945.
Organ transplantation: The transfer of an organ from a donor to a recipient to replace a failing organ. Understanding histocompatibility made genetic matching central to reducing transplant rejection.
Hugh McDevitt: An American immunologist who helped show that immune responses to certain antigens are controlled by genes in the major histocompatibility complex. His work with Benacerraf linked immune-response genes to the major histocompatibility complex.
T cell: A lymphocyte that recognizes specific antigens through its receptor and coordinates or carries out immune responses. The immune reactions shaped by inherited response genes depend on T-cell recognition.

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Linda B. BuckRelated: Buck worked in Benacerraf’s laboratory before turning to olfaction.