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Baruj Benacerraf

By Benjamin Dubner

Nobel Prize

  • Baruj Benacerraf is a nobel laureate who received a nobel prize in physiology or medicine with Jean Dausset and George D. Snell in 1980.
  • Baruj and his team received the the nobel prize "for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions".
  • Baruj himself discovered that immune responses are triggered by a gene, which he called the immune-response gene or (Ir), through a series of experiments.
  • The Ir gene is part of the supergene major histocompatibility gene or MHC.
  • Baruj, Jean Dausset (French), and George D. Snell’s (American) discoveries explained why some peoples immune systems are stronger than others.

Nobel Prize (cont.)

Career

  • Their discoveries also explained how some people contracted autoimmune diseases (a disease in which a body is attacked by its own immune system) such as multiple sclerosis or lupus and why a body would sometimes reject foreign transplants (such as blood or organs)
  • Baruj injected a foreign material into guinea pigs, expecting an immune reaction, yet some did not react.
  • He then breed the responders and nonresponders, eventually isolating the gene reponsible for the immune reactions.

Early Life

  • Baruj was born on October 29, 1920, in Caracas Venezuela.
  • He spent most of his life in Paris, where he moved when his was five.
  • His family moved to New York in 1940 for Baruj to pursue his education.
  • Baruj went to Columbia University in 1942 and received a bachelor's in biology.
  • Baruj went to medical school at Medical College of Virginia in 1942.
  • Baruj was drafted into the army during World War II, while still in medical school, as part of wartime training.
  • Received his medical degree in 1945
  • Was discharged from the army in 1947.

  • Accepted a fellowship in immunology at Columbia University in 1947
  • Moved to Paris in 1949 to research phagocytes at the Broussais Hospital of Paris
  • Began research in 1956 at N.Y.U that would lead to his nobel prize and left 1966.
  • Was a chief of the laboratory at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in 1968.
  • Became a chairman of the pathology department at the Harvard Medical School in 1969
  • Baruj was the president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (and institute associated with Harvard) from 1980 to 1991
  • Published over 500 scientific papers through his life.

Death

  • Wife died on June 3, 2011.
  • Baruj died on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 in Boston Massachusetts at the age of 90.
  • Baruj died in his home in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston
  • According to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Baruj died from pneumonia

Notable Achievment

  • Earned the nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 1980 along with Jean Dausset (French), and George D. Snell (American).

Trivia

Jean Dausset

George D. Snell

The Karolinska Institute in Sweden which awarded the prize said, “The area of research opened up by Benacerraf now offers the possibility of analyzing the background of the varying ability of different individuals to mobilize a response to infections.”

  • Baruj was rejected by 25 medical schools because of his race and religion before being admitted to the Medical College of Virginia.
  • As a child, Baruj had severe asthma that caused him to often miss school.
  • Baruj later credited his asthma with sparking his interest in medicine.
  • Became a first lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps and was stationed in Germany and later Paris.

Baruj Benacerraf

Personal Life

  • Baruj’s mother, Henriette Lasry, was a homemaker born in French Algeria.
  • Baruj’s father, Abraham Benacerraf, was a textile importer born in Spanish Morocco.
  • Baruj’s father was a Sephardic (of spanish descent) Jewish.
  • Became an american citizen in 1943 and married Annette Dreyfus, who was a niece of a Nobel laureate of the physiology or medicine in 1965.
  • Father died in 1953 from a heart attack.
  • Had one daughter, Beryl Benacerraf, born in 1949, who later became a radiologist.

Citations

"Asthma." The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

"Baruj Benacerraf - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 6 Oct 2014

"Baruj Benacerraf - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 4 Oct 2014.

"Baruj Benacerraf." World of Health. Gale, 2007. Biography in Context. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.

Denise, Gellene. "Baruj Benacerraf, Nobel Winner in Medicine, Dies at 90." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 2 Aug. 2011. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.

Citations (cont.)

Lantier, Alex. "France Continues to Bomb Mali as Islamist Opposition Forces Advance." World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.

"New Unit Study: World War II." Build Your Library. 19 May 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.

"The Nobel Medal for Physiology or Medicine". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 7 Oct 2014.

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1980". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 4 Oct 2014.

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