NEWS Dan Hultmark, Professor at Umeå University’s Department of Molecular Biology, is a prominent figure in the research field of innate immunity, which is one of the two areas of immunology recognized in this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics or Medicine.
Hultmark has collaborated with Nobel recipient Jules A. Hoffmann, born in Luxembourg and currently working at the University of Strasbourg,. Hoffman is sharing one half of the prize with American Bruce A. Beutler. They were recognized "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity."
Hultmark has been working in the same field as Hoffmann and results from the two groups are largely complementary. Hultmark’s research group had early results that pointed to the importance of the Toll receptor, the molecule that now is the focus of this year's Nobel Prize. Hoffmann's research team has been able to substantiate these findings in a more persuasive manner.
"Hoffmann's research team has attracted talented people and they have gone a step further," says Dan Hultmark.
An important basis for this type of research was by Hans G. Boman, who in the early 70s began to study the immune systems of insects here in Umeå. An important key discovery was made later by a graduate student in Stockholm, Shao-Cong Sun, who then worked with Ingrid Faye, also with a background at Umeå University. Therefore, it can be said that this year's Nobel Prize has a clear connection to Umeå University.
It has not been confirmed yet whether Jules A. Hoffmann will come to Umeå in collaboration with the Nobel festivities in Stockholm on 10 December.
“We are currently working putting the pieces together,” says Dan Hultmark.
The other half of the Nobel Prize was given to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity."
Read more about the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011 at
Nobelprize.org
Read more about Jules A. Hoffmann at:
University of Strasbourg's IBMC page
Editor: Bertil Born