January 14, 1999
Dr. Strominger named Japan Prize Laureate
Dana-Farber researcher Jack L. Strominger, M.D., of Tumor Virology, was one of three U.S. scientists to be named laureates of the 1999 Japan Prize by the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan.
Strominger, a Harvard University professor of biochemistry, was awarded the prize with another Harvard professor, Don C. Wiley, Ph.D., for their research on the body's immune response and tolerance to organ transplantation.
The researchers' collaboration lead to science's first look at a three-dimensional picture of the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II molecules, the principal structures involved in initiating an immune system response to foreign substances.
Their groundbreaking X-ray crystallography pictures made it possible to visualize for the first time how fragments of infectious agents are presented and distinguished from one's own body to trigger an immune response. According to the Japanese foundation, Strominger and Wiley's research has had a major impact in both basic and clinical immunology and opened a wide range of investigation into transplantation rejection and tumor immunity and autoimmu-nity (for example, rheu-matoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes).
Strominger, Wiley, and a third Japan Prize laureate, W. Wesley Peterson - who received a prize in communications - will be honored at a ceremony in Tokyo in April.
The Japan Prize, first awarded in 1985, is given to individuals whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and promote peace and prosperity for humankind.
Each laureate will receive, in the presence of the Emperor and Prime Minister of Japan, a certificate of merit, a commemorative medal, and a cash award of 50 million yen, or approximately $430,000.
