Nobel Prize 2025: Scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, Shimon Sakaguchi Win For Breakthrough In Immune Tolerance
Brunkow, Ramsdell, and Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering peripheral immune tolerance, crucial for distinguishing self from invaders.
Three scientists, Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their foundational work on peripheral immune tolerance. This key mechanism explains how the body prevents its immune system from mistakenly attacking its own healthy tissues.
The prize, the first of the 2025 Nobel announcements, was declared by a panel at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The laureates will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (the equivalent of nearly $1.2 million).
Global Impact on Disease Treatment
The discoveries by the three scientists are already making a profound impact on the medical world. The Nobel Assembly highlighted the significance of the research in their official news release, stating, “The laureates’ discoveries launched the field of peripheral tolerance, spurring the development of medical treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.” They further added, “This may also lead to more successful transplantations. Several of these treatments are now undergoing clinical trials.”
Peripheral immune tolerance is essential for keeping the body’s defence system, the immune system, regulated and stable. Without it, the immune system can become "out of whack" and target the body’s own cells instead of foreign invaders.
The research that led to the award spans over a decade. The initial critical finding was made in 1995 by Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi, a distinguished professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University in Japan.
A subsequent breakthrough was achieved in 2001 by Mary E. Brunkow, a senior programme manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, a scientific adviser for Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco. Sakaguchi then successfully linked the combined findings of all three two years later, solidifying the understanding of peripheral tolerance.
The Secretary-General of the Nobel Committee, Thomas Perlmann, confirmed that he was only able to contact Sakaguchi following the announcement on Monday morning, news agency AP reported. He noted that he had to leave voicemails for both Brunkow and Ramsdell.
Nobel Medicine Prize
Since its inception in 1901, the Medicine Prize has been awarded 115 times to 229 laureates between 1901 and 2024, recognising transformative contributions to human health and science.
Over the years, the Nobel Prizes have honoured some of the world’s most influential figures — from scientists like Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Marie Curie, to writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, and humanitarian leaders including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa.
Last year’s medicine prize was jointly won by Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, which act as "on and off switches" for cells.
The announcements for the remaining prizes are scheduled throughout the week: physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, and literature on Thursday. The highly anticipated Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, with the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics following on October 13. The formal award ceremony will be held on December 10, commemorating the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prizes in 1896.
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