
Former Scripps Research postdoctoral associate James P. Allison wins the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
October 01, 2018
Understanding how to shut off cancerous tumors' ability to hide from immune attack has given doctors new tools to fight cancers such as melanoma. For his discovery of how to reawaken immune system attacks on cancer, former Scripps Research postdoctoral associate James P. Allison, PhD, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday, alongside Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD.
Advancing the concept of immunotherapies for cancer has been an undertaking, says Michael Oldstone, MD, professor at Scripps Research. Allison deserves a lot of credit for bringing that therapy from the bench into humans.
Allison trained as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of noted Scripps Research immunologist Ralph Reisfeld, PhD, from 1974 to 1977. In addition to his legacy in advancing cancer therapeutics, Scripps Research scientists know him as a determined scientist and skilled mentor.
The birth of a new therapy
Allison's innovative focus on optimizing the immune response, rather than specifically targeting tumors, proved revolutionary, says Wendy Havran, PhD, a professor in the Scripps Research Department of Immunology and Microbiology, who worked as a postdoctoral researcher under Allison at the University of California, Berkeley. Checkpoint blockade immunotherapy has saved numerous lives and provides hope to many cancer patients, she says.
In the 1970s, immunologists including Oldstone worked at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, predecessor of Scripps Research. They focused on basic science, characterizing how the immune system recognized pathogens. They hoped to understand not only how the immune system recognized attackers, but also why the immune system sometimes becomes overzealous and attacks the body's own cells.
Argyrios Theofilopoulos, MD, a professor at Scripps Research, recalls the intensity of the work happening on the Scripps Research campus at that time, and the steps Reisfeld and Allison were taking to advance the field.
The institute was very famous already for our work on immunological aspects of diseases, Theofilopoulos says. At that time we knew nothing about T cell receptors. They were trying to identify the peptides that were presented to T cells, and thereby identify the T cell receptor.
In 1974, Allison accepted a position working with Reisfeld, an expert on major histocompatibility complex, critical to discernment of self versus attacker. Their work focused on the interaction among proteins called human leukocyte antigens and T cells. By 1977, Allison and a colleague, G. N. Callahan, reported in a letter to the journal Nature that they had found evidence that the immune system was prevented from attacking cancer cells due to an association between pathogenic markers and additional proteins.
Finding the factors that cloaked cancer from immune attack, then developing techniques to suppress the cloaking system, eventually led to the development of checkpoint-blockade cancer immunotherapies such as ipilimumab (Yervoy). It has inspired a new generation of immunologists focused on making more types of cancer visible to immune attack, among them, immunologist Mark Sundrud, PhD, associate professor at Scripps Research in Florida.
This highlights the life-changing implications of understanding how the immune system works at a fundamental level, Sundrud says.
Training the next generation of researchers
Oldstone remembers Allison as a postdoctoral researcher with incredible potential, saying, He was very smart and very determined. Interestingly, Allison's colleagues at the time included Rafi Ahmed, PhD, who has advanced cancer immunotherapies at Emory University, and Robert Schreiber, PhD, who has pioneered cancer immunoediting at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Scripps Research has a long history of training postdoctoral researchers for impactful careers in science. Postdocs come from all over the world to improve human health in an environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, and scientific excellence, says Ryan Wheeler, director of the Career, International and Postdoctoral Services Office at Scripps Research.
After leaving Scripps Research, Allison moved to UC Berkeley, and went on to become Head of Immunology at Sloan-Kettering in New York. Today he is with M.D. Anderson in Texas, where he is currently Chair of Immunology.
Havran says her work with Allison continues to inspire her.
Jim took an unexpected basic science discovery, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, saw the implications, and was able to translate it to the clinic to treat cancer patients, she says. It is every researchers dream.
Immunology & Microbiology Awards and honors
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
23/06/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...
23/06/2026
Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026
Brie Clayton June 22, 2026
0 Comments
New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...
23/06/2026
SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed
CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...
22/06/2026
Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape
Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...
22/06/2026
Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs
ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that...
22/06/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...
22/06/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...
22/06/2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...
22/06/2026
The next era of AI will not be defined by compute alone. Its growth will be dete...
22/06/2026
Mission, Vision and Veritas - new Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercom...
22/06/2026
At the ISC conference running in Hamburg this week, NVIDIA is introducing new so...
22/06/2026
For the past two years, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Arti...
22/06/2026
JUPITER, Europe's first exascale supercomputer at Germany's Forschungszentrum J lich, runs on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Inf...
21/06/2026
To call the 2026 FIFA World Cup a big undertaking would be a big understatement....
21/06/2026
New series now live on Udemy
Regular SOS contributor and Cubase workshop columnist John Walden has just released a new Cubase video course that is now avail...
21/06/2026
Hot tubs sit at about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius, warm enough that most people can only soak for about 15 minutes. NVIDIA's newest AI servers can run their co...
21/06/2026
Sunday 21 June 2026
Sky announces immersive documentary series The Wargame
The Wargame first looks
ZIP (2MB)
Sky today confirms the commission of The Wargam...
20/06/2026
New add-on creates doubles & vocal stacks
IK Multimedia's latest ReSing add-on kits the innovative software out with the ability to automatically genera...
20/06/2026
What exactly is Apogee Control V3?
Control V3 is a new mixer application that controls Apogee interfaces. The new hit feature is that V3 finally allows for...
19/06/2026
Split compound eases operational challenges at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club...
19/06/2026
North Carolina, Oklahoma meet in the best-of-three Finals as ESPN leans into spe...
19/06/2026
Company launch comprehensive mix-comparison tool
The Him DSP are a plug-in company founded by The Him, an EDM DJ and producer who has amassed over half a bi...
19/06/2026
Major Sampler upgrades introduced
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW software has just entered public beta testing, and is available now for all users w...
19/06/2026
Four times the power of their predecessors
Akai Pro have just introduced upgraded versions of two of their popular standalone MPC systems, kitting them out ...
19/06/2026
Data from May shows seasonal outdoor trends triggers lower viewing
Warsaw, Pola...
19/06/2026
Buttons is best control system in the rAVe Best of Infocomm Awards 2026...
19/06/2026
Mavis Studio Makes iPad Production More Powerful
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
InfoComm update brings new NDI Preview, PTZ control, USB audio ...
19/06/2026
Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Tackles Post with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
New narrative projects rely on DaVinci Reso...