Oslo, Norway: The first Nobel Prize for 2025 has been announced online, with three researchers- two American and one Japanese- sharing the prize for their groundbreaking discoveries challenging longstanding medical beliefs.
BREAKING NEWS
The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.” pic.twitter.com/nhjxJSoZEr— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2025
Mary Brunkow, a Ph.D from Princeton University, along with Fred Ramsdell, a Ph.D from the University of California, Los Angeles, along with Shimon Sakaguchi, a Ph.D from Kyoto University, Japan, showed how pathogens could mimic human cells to evade detection from the body’s immune system and how the immune system could be strengthened to deal with it.
The journey started in 1995, when Shimon Sakaguchi challenged the prevailing view that the immune tolerance could be maintained by eliminating harmful cells in the thymus through a process called central tolerance. He showed that the immune system was far more complex, with an entirely new type of immune cells- regulatory T cells- could help to shield the body from autoimmune disorders.
In 2001, Fred Ramsdell and Mary Burnkow expanded Shimon’s research, confirming the role of T cells as a protection against autoimmune diseases through their research on lab mice.
Back then, molecular genetics was in its infancy, and the team was required to research a ton of data manually to derive their results.
Thanks to this breakthrough- and the advancements in molecular genetics- researchers are now creating new therapies for autoimmune diseases, cancer and organ transplants. Many of these therapies are already in clinical trials, renewing hopes for millions of people to heal against previously undiagnosable autoimmune diseases including Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriasis.
In the coming days, the other Nobel Prizes are expected to be announced- for economics, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. Following the announcements, the awards ceremony will be held on December 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the prizes.
