Institute for Systems Biology

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Mary Brunkow's current institution

The Nobel Assembly kicked off October 2025 by awarding the Medicine Prize to three scientists who discovered the immune system's off-switch—regulatory T cells controlled by the Foxp3 gene. Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell identified the gene in 2001 while studying scurfy mice that died from autoimmune storms. Shimon Sakaguchi had already discovered the cells themselves in 1995. Together, their work explained why our immune systems don't destroy us and opened the door to treatments for everything from diabetes to lupus.

Updated May 19