Balzan Prize Ceremony 2007: 1 Mio. Swiss Francs For Immunology

Bruce Beutler (USA) and Jules Hoffmann
(France), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, and
AcadГ©mie
des Sciences, Paris, received one of the four International Balzan Prizes
2007 for research in the area of Innate Immunity. The prize has an
endowment
of CHF 1 million (EUR 610 thousand).




Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann were today awarded with the Balzan Prize
2007 in the field of Immunology for their discovery of the genetic
mechanisms responsible for innate immunity by the International Balzan
Foundation. They have worked in close cooperation to develop a new vision
of
the molecular defence strategy deployed by animals across a wide
evolutionary spectrum against infectious agents. Their work has led to
very
promising medical applications. The award ceremony took place today in
Berne, Switzerland.



Jules Hoffmann and his group at the University of Strasbourg showed that
the
encoding gene of a membrane receptor called Toll was decisive in
triggering
the defence of the fly Drosophila melanogaster against a mycotic
infection.
The Toll molecule has led to the discovery of a whole family of membrane
receptors called TLR (Toll-Like Receptors) that are found in mammals and
have thus rendered the understanding of innate immunity in higher
organisms
more complete.



Bruce Beutler was the first, in 1998, to clone the gene of one of these
TLRs
responsible for septic shock. Over 10 TLRs have subsequently been
identified
among the mammals. Thanks to the long line of discoveries begun with Jules
Hoffmann and continued with Bruce Beutler, some essential factors of the
interactions between the organism and its environment have therefore been
revealed.



The International Balzan Prize Foundation, founded in 1957, promotes
culture, science, and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of
humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples, regardless of nationality,
race or creed throughout the world. It achieves its aim through the annual
award of four prizes in two general fields: literature, the moral sciences
and the arts; medicine and the physical, mathematical and natural
sciences;
each for the current value of CHF 1 million. Each prize winner must
destine
half of the prize for research work, preferably involving young
researchers.



The Balzan Foundation also periodically awards a "Prize for Humanity,
Peace
and Brotherhood among Peoples". The awards ceremony is held in alternate
years in Rome, in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic,
and
in Berne, in the presence of the representative of the Federal Council of
the Swiss Confederation. The International Balzan Prize Foundation works
from two different offices. The Balzan Foundation "Prize" (chaired in
Milan
by Ambassador Bruno Bottai) selects the subjects to be awarded and the
candidates through its General Prize Committee, which is composed of
eminent
European members. The Balzan Foundation "Fund" (chaired in Zurich by
Achille
Casanova) administers the estate left by Eugenio Balzan.




Balzan Foundation

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