Michel C. Nussenzweig MD, PhD

Dr. Michel Nussenzweig received his bachelor´s degree from the New York University, College of Arts and Sciences in 1975. He then joins the lab of Ralph Steinman at Rockefeller where he obtained his Ph.D. degree working on Dendritic cells. His postdoctoral research was done with Philip Leder at Harvard Medical School on immunoglobulin genes and B cell development. He earned an M.D. degree from New York University Medical School and trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Nussenzweig’s experiments are consistent with the notion that self-antigens taken up by dendritic cells induce tolerance, whereas antigens taken up in the context of activation stimuli, such as those found during inflammation or tissue destruction, induce prolonged T cell activation. During inflammation or infection, dendritic cells present self-antigens simultaneously with non-self-antigens. By establishing tolerance to self-antigens before challenging with pathogens, dendritic cells can focus the adaptive immune system entirely on the pathogen, thereby avoiding autoimmunity.