Victor nut branch

Victor Nussenzweig (* 1928 in São Paulo ) is a Brazilian parasitologist . He has made significant contributions to malaria research and teaches at New York University .

Career

Victor Nussenzweig was born in São Paulo in 1928 and began to study medicine at the Universidade de São Paulo there in the late 1940s . There he met his future wife and research partner Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig , who fled Nazi Austria with her parents in 1939 . Together they turned under the guidance of Professor Samuel Pessoa of Parasitology to and explored for the time being, the Chagas' disease , and they discovered that gentian violet exciter Trypanosoma cruzi kills. Victor Nussenzweig finished his medical studies in 1953, five years later his doctorate and was then as assistant professor working at the University of São Paulo. His work in São Paulo was only interrupted by a research stay in Paris from 1958 to 1960 .

In 1963 Nussenzweig and his wife began another research stay at New York University in the United States . However, due to the military coup in their home country the following year, the couple did not return to Brazil permanently, but researched and taught in New York from then on. In 1965 both were appointed assistant professors at NYU, but subsequently researched different topics for the first time. Victor Nussenzweig dealt with the complement system , but shortly afterwards he joined his wife, who dealt with malaria . In 1971 he became a full professor before being appointed Hermann M. Biggs Professor of Preventive Medicine in 1987. He has held this position at New York University to this day, even after his retirement .

Scientific work

Victor Nussenzweig spent most of his scientific career researching malaria , in particular developing a potential vaccine against the disease. To this end, he and his wife mainly studied the biology of plasmodia , the pathogen causing malaria. In 1980 the couple discovered a protein on the sporozoites of the Plasmodia, which was named Circumsporozoite Protein (CSP). After cloning and sequencing the protein, it led to a number of advances in malaria research and paved the way for RTS, S , one of the earliest vaccines. RTS, S uses the protein discovered by the nut branches as an antigen in vaccination. Nussenzweig also deals with the human immune response to plasmodia, for example the effect of interferon-γ- secreting T lymphocytes in the liver .

Honors

In 1985 Nussenzweig and his wife won the Carlos J. Finlay Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of microbiology . He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universidad de Chile in 1993. In 1998 he was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( Academia Brasileira de Ciências ), as well as to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 . In 2015 he and his wife again received the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize .

family

With his wife Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig , Victor Nussenzweig has three children, all of whom followed the scientific example of their parents: the physicians Michel C. Nussenzweig and Andre Nussenzweig and the anthropologist Sonia Nussenzweig.

Web links

• Profile on the New York University website
• Profile on the website of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences

Individual evidence

1. ↑ GSK Malaria Vaccine has Brazilian Heritage. scienceforbrazil.com, accessed December 14, 2016 .