Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

October 01, 2018

02/10/2018

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
LINK: https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2018/20181001-allis...
See more stories from scripps

Most recent headlines

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

19/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at...

SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company earned multiple awards at the 2025 NAB Show, with two...

19/04/2025

Ateliere Announces CEO Transition

Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, today announced that Dan Goman has stepped down as CEO and David Bortis, Ateli...

19/04/2025

Marshall CV574 Miniature 4K UHD Camera Revolutionizes Off...

As Director of Media and Aerial Production at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, Bryan Moore is setting new standards in off-road racing media coverage thanks to his ...

19/04/2025

Lightware Launches Dual Screen Extended Desktop Taurus

A next-generation collaboration device that redefines connectivity for meeting environments Lightware, an industry-leading manufacturer of signal management so...

19/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for N...

Calrec is today announcing that its True Control 2.0 is a Remote Production winner in the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. This official awards program...

19/04/2025

Appear and NBCUniversal Win Project of the Year at NAB Sh...

Appear, a global leader in live production technology, proudly announces it has been recognised alongside NBCUniversal with the prestigious NAB Show Delivery Pr...

19/04/2025

Deity Microphones Announces The Deity THEOS DIFB at NAB 2...

Deity Microphones, a leader in innovative audio equipment, is proud to announce the expected release of our Ultra-Wide Band IFB to the market. The THEOS DIFB wi...

19/04/2025

LiveU IQ Technology Delivers Breakthrough Network Perform...

A world renowned broadcaster and long-standing LiveU customer has successfully completed a series of live connectivity tests using LiveU's revolutionary, aw...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year and Produc...

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced dual NAB Show award wins at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The company's M...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins Three Top Awards at 2025 NAB Show

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced three major award wins at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas. The compa...

19/04/2025

Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group Form Unique Strategic...

AI video discovery company Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group, a leading independent unscripted television production company, are proud to announce a unique st...

19/04/2025

The Infrastructure of Creative Flow DigitalGlues creative...

As the media industry navigates the triple challenge of AI-driven production, distributed teams, and skyrocketing content demand, DigitalGlue s creative.space h...

19/04/2025

Miri Technologies Wins Two Prestigious Awards for X510 Bo...

Network technology startup Miri Technologies Inc. capped off its tremendously successful NAB Show debut by winning two prestigious industry awards for its cutti...

19/04/2025

Tablo Adds 45 New FAST Channels From Warner Bros. Discovery

CINCINNATI Scripp's Nuvyyo USA has concluded a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring 45 FAST channels to Nuvyyo's Tablo TV device....

19/04/2025

Court Overrules FCC's $57 Million Fine Against AT&T

In a ruling that could have broader implications on the legality of regulatory agencies levying fines through administrative proceedings, the 5th U.S. Circuit C...

19/04/2025

FCC Chair Carr Blasts Comcast Over MSNBC Coverage

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has blasted Comcast over MSNBC's coverage of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in a so...

19/04/2025

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC This season features faculty member Arun Pandian as the new host and interviews ...

18/04/2025

Everyone Is Cordially Invited to Celebrate Queer Joy in The Wedding Banquet

Director Andrew Ahn, alongside actors Youn Yuh-jung and Joan Chen, takes a photo of the audience after the premiere of his film The Wedding Banquet at Eccles ...

18/04/2025

U.S. Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

TV News Outlets See March Spike in Social Media Usage

Broadcast and cable TV news outlets saw strong social media growth in March, according to new data from the social video analytics company Tubular Labs ....

18/04/2025

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The drummer secured a spot among the elite winners in this years competition. By Maddie...

18/04/2025

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway The Latin American immigrant community takes center stage in a new musical featuring Tatian...

18/04/2025

UPDATED: Broadcasters Urge FCC to Hit the Delete Button on Antiquated Regs

WASHINGTON The FCC's call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated, has prompted a slew of fillings from bro...

18/04/2025

Federal Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

AMS, VideoAmp Collaborate on Cross-Channel Targeting and Measurement

PEARL RIVER, N.Y. Global media solutions company Active Media Services (AMS) has formed a new relationship with VideoAmp, a measurement company for linear TV, c...

18/04/2025

Netflix Reports Strong Q1 Revenue, Operating Income

Netflix reported generally positive results for first-quarter 2025, with revenue up 13% year-over-year to $10.543 billion and operating income growing by 27% to...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile Units from NEP Group, Game Creek Video

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile U...

18/04/2025

EVS's Sbastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products

EVSs S bastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products Beyond replay, offerings also target asset management and media infrastructure By Ken Kersc...

18/04/2025

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC Men's championships to follow Saturday night on ESPN2 By Brandon Costa, Direct...

18/04/2025

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports This panel discussion featured leaders from ESPN, CBS Sports, Warner Bros. Disc...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remote-Production Models in U.S., Canada

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remo...

17/04/2025

The Ugly Stepsister: A Cinderella Body Horror Story That Will Leave a Crowd in Shambles

Emilie Blichfeldt attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Ugly ...

17/04/2025

Why Resilient GPS (R-GPS) Matters for US Military Superiority: We Must Address GPS Vulnerabilities

R-GPS gives warfighters a decisive battlefield advantage by punching through adv...

17/04/2025

What NAB told us about the future of media tech

This year's NAB Show in Las Vegas marked a noticeable shift in the priorities of media and broadcast organisations. Gone are the days of chasing flashy, or ...

17/04/2025

Changing Sustainable Production in Wales and Beyond

class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt= decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.antonbauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Amy-Daniel-1...

17/04/2025

Roku to Collaborate with Adobe on Real-Time Customer Data

SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku and Adobe have announced that they are collaborating on a real time data platform made possible by a a new integration of the Roku Data C...

17/04/2025

IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Surges 14.9% YoY to $259 Billion in 2024

NEW YORK Internet advertising revenues demonstrated strong growth in 2024, increasing 14.9% year-over-year to $258.6 billion, according to the IAB Internet Adv...

17/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Left to right, Geoff Stedman, CMO, SDVI...

17/04/2025

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions with AJA

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions ...

17/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0 Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Image: The Calrec True Control 2.o on ...

17/04/2025

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward From mood boards to live demos, the alumni band gave students an exclusive look at the process behin...

17/04/2025

MyFree DirecTV Adds 8 NBCU Channels

DirecTV's free streaming service MyFree DirecTV has just added another eight channels from NBCUniversal....

17/04/2025

GameChanger Launches in the U.S.

LOS ANGELES The virtual production company GameChanger has announced that it is expanding its global footprint by bringing its virtual production technology to ...

17/04/2025

IBCAP Launches Automated VOD Monitoring and Takedown System

DENVER The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has announced that it has developed a proprietary, automated software-based system to iden...

17/04/2025

Pixalate: Roku Continues to Dominate U.S. CTV Device Market

Pixalate's new CTV Device Market Share report for Q1 2025 shows that Roku has the highest open programmatic CTV device market share in the United States, wi...

17/04/2025

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lewis has more than 20 years of industry experience, leading fundraising initiati...

17/04/2025

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, ...

17/04/2025

Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV and NOW Lineup

April 17th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV & NOW Lineup World Premieres and Exclusive Cast Panels with Apple TV '...

17/04/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clients, How Industry Trends Impact Workflows

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clie...