Professors Sarah Gaffen and Vijay Kuchroo are being jointly recognised for the 2020 ICIS Biolegend William E. Paul Award for their combined contribution deciphering the role of a key cytokine IL-17 in health and diseases.
Professor Sarah Gaffen is a world leader in the field of IL-17 biology and function and has become virtually synonymous with this cytokine within the broad scientific community. Dr. Gaffen is recognized for her role on IL-17-producing T cells (TH17 cells). Her laboratory first showed the role of Th17 cells in fighting yeast infections with candida albicans. IL-17 and its receptor are unique in structure and sequence from other known cytokines, and the Gaffen lab has been a leader in studying signaling pathways mediated by this novel family of cytokines. Dr. Gaffen started working on IL-17 back in 1999, at the time IL-17 was still an obscure and poorly understood cytokine, showing impressive foresight in working on this cytokine long before it was on anyone else’s radar. In remarkably short order, Dr. Gaffen became a leading expert on IL-17 biology, which is now widely recognized as a major axis of immune signaling in biomedicine, and she made major headway in establishing systems for its investigation.
Professor Vijay K. Kuchroo is recognized for his impact on many of the fundamental discoveries related to cytokine research over the past decade. In particular, he was instrumental in defining the IL-17 producing Th17 cells and their role in autoimmunity and how their modulation effects immune function and tissue inflammation. His work contributed to the development of immunotherapeutics that target both Tim-3 in cancer and IL-17 for autoimmune diseases. Dr. Kuchroo is also recognized for his seminal and original contributions to our understanding of the basic mechanisms of T cell differentiation and tolerance.
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For more details: https://cytokinesociety.org/2020-biolegend-william-e-paul-award-for-excellence-in-cytokine-research/
The ICIS-BioLegend William E. Paul Award represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement in cytokine research. The William E. Paul Award is bestowed upon a leading biomedical research scientist who has made outstanding contributions to cytokine research, either in a basic or applied field as demonstrated by publications, oral presentations and consistent scientific advancements in cytokine biology throughout their career, through the generosity of BioLegend. The awardee is selected by the ICIS Awards Committee based on nominations received from the international scientific community. The selection is based on strength and consistency throughout their career of cytokine research publications in peer reviewed journals, contributions to cytokine biology through the publication of reviews and book chapters, long term evidence of presenting their work on cytokine biology to the international community in oral presentations and leadership in the field as demonstrated by organization of cytokine biology meetings and chairing of sessions focused on cytokine biology at national and international meetings.