Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011) Immunologist Who Won Nobel for Genetics of T-Cell Antigen Recognition

COMMENT OBITUARY Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011) Immunologist who won Nobel for genetics of T-cell antigen recognition.

aruj Benacerraf bestrode immunol- be mounted by some animals but not by to understand the significance of T-cell ogy for five decades. He created the others. He showed that responsiveness was recognition of peptide MHC complexes intellectual framework leading to controlled by a genetic locus that determined flourished and he continued his extraordi- Bour present understanding of how T lym- whether the immune system could perceive nary record of training young scientists who phocytes recognize antigens, for which he the material and generate a functional later would become leaders in the field. In received the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology response — a fundamental insight that led 1980, Benacerraf was appointed president or Medicine. He crafted world-renowned to his Nobel prize. These immune response of the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in centres of immunology at multiple institu- (Ir) genes were later shown to be linked to the Boston, now the Dana–Farber Cancer Insti- tions, oversaw the flowering of a premier major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tute. His leadership transformed it into one cancer centre, and was a remarkable mentor — which contains many immunity-related of the premier cancer centres and medical to generations of immunologists. He died, genes — and were eventually determined to research organizations in the world. He aged 90, on 2 August 2011. code for the MHC molecules themselves. stepped down from the presidency in 1992. Born in 1920 in Caracas, Venezuela, to Those of us who passed through his labora- Sephardic Jewish parents, Benacerraf spent tory at Harvard were invited to spend idyllic his youth in Paris and emigrated to the summer days at Woods Hole in the time United States in 1940. He did his under- before e-mail and the web. We shared ocean graduate studies as a premedical student at breezes and excellent food with Baruj and Columbia University in New York, where Annette and had intense scientific discussions he met Annette Dreyfus, also a French Jew- that he expected to be translated into concrete ish émigré. They married in 1943, a love experiments immediately on our return. match that ended only in June this year with A rare combination of capacities made Y. KARSH/CAMERA PRESS LONDON KARSH/CAMERA PRESS Y. Annette’s death. She travelled everywhere Benacerraf such a successful scientist and with him and was a constant presence in the leader. His joy at uncovering some new aspect lab, softening his rough edges, reminding of the immune system was almost childlike: him to take his medicines, pampering him his impish smile, finger snapping and jig- with his favourite French cookies and tea. ging footwork at ‘Aha!’ moments were well After completing his MD at the Medical known to his colleagues and trainees. He had College of Virginia in Richmond, Benacer- enormous native intelligence, remarkable sci- raf served in the US Army in France and entific intuition and a tremendous capacity returned to New York City in 1947. He began to recognize latent talent, as well as to inspire, his scientific career in 1948 at Columbia with motivate and guide the careers of those in Elvin Kabat, a leading figure in immuno whom he identified such potential. It was chemistry. Family business responsibilities sometimes uncomfortable in the moment took him to Paris in 1949 where, at the when one’s ‘buttons’ were being pushed, but Broussais Hospital, he carried out ground- in retrospect the value of such productive breaking studies on the ‘reticuloendothelial manipulation was always apparent. system’, then the term for the system of white Indeed, Benacerraf was a man of enormous blood cells (phagocytes) that ingest foreign personal warmth — an attribute not always particles and cell debris. Recruited to New Benacerraf left NYU in 1968 and led the appreciated by those outside his close York University (NYU) in 1956, he became National Institute of Allergy and Infectious scientific family. As pleased as he was with the intellectual centre of a distinguished Diseases’s Laboratory of Immunology in his achievements in science and scientific group of scientists and began the training Bethesda, Maryland, for two years, where administration, he took every opportu- activities that were to be one of the great his studies led to a fuller understanding of nity to remind those close to him that his achievements of his life. how Ir gene products mediate immunity. main pride was in the cadre of scientists At NYU, Benacerraf proved to be an He also took the first steps that led to the he trained. Their continuing scientific immunological polymath, uncovering the laboratory becoming a major centre of achievements are his greatest legacy. ■ existence and diverse functions of antibody immunology research. In 1970, he became subclasses, identifying cellular receptors for chair of the pathology department at Ronald N. Germain and William E. Paul these proteins and establishing the distinc- Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass are at the Laboratory of Systems Biology tive antigen-recognition properties of B and achusetts, a position he held until 1991. and Laboratory of Immunology, National T lymphocytes. He also continued the theme On his arrival, the faculty included some Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of combining business and scientific respon- immunological luminaries, but the school National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, sibilities, serving as a bank director for most was not the world-leading centre of immu- Maryland 20892, USA. RNG worked closely of his NYU tenure. nology it is today. Benacerraf recruited with Benacerraf from 1972 to 1981; WEP His great work was the discovery that outstanding immunologists to various Har- did so from 1964 to 1970. in a population of outbred guinea pigs, vard hospitals and centres in addition to the e-mails: [email protected]; immune responses to simple antigens could ‘Quadrangle’ faculty he led. His own efforts [email protected]