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Home > Prizes > Prize Recipients > Alexander Rudensky

Alexander Rudensky

2018 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

Location

New York, NY

Title

Alexander Rudensky

Area(s) of Research

Immunology; autoimmune disorders; inflammatory disease; cancer

Education

Gabrichevsky Institute for Microbiology and Epidemiology (PhD)

Country of Birth

Russia

Links
  • mskcc.org

Tags
biochemistry biomedical science cell function immunology Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center molecular biology russia t cells
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From humble beginnings in the former Soviet Union, Alexander Rudensky counts among the world’s foremost immunologists — for his discoveries on the molecular architecture of regulatory T cells, which play a key role in autoimmune disorders, inflammatory disease, and cancer.

Rudensky was born in Moscow in the late 1950s, and was drawn to science in part, he says, because it was “less influenced by propaganda and politics than other fields.”

A photo of Alexander Rudensky and a student

At Moscow’s Second Medical School, he pursued biochemistry and studied the interplay between the immune system’s main actors: T cells and B cells. Rudensky did immunological postdoctoral work at Yale and accepted a professorship at the University of Washington, where his focus turned to the molecular underpinnings of T cell development.

Rudensky became particularly interested in regulatory T cells, or Tregs, thought to play a role in suppressing unwanted immune responses. The molecular identity and role of Tregs had puzzled researchers for decades, but Rudensky and his team helped solve it by discovering that the gene switch FOXP3 controls their formation.

A photo of Alexander Rudensky inside of his lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering

Much of Rudensky’s career unfolded at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City. Notably, he found that placental mammals form cohort of “peripheral” Tregs, and that during pregnancy, these Tregs prevent the maternal immune system from attacking the fetus, effectively linking peripheral Treg deficiency to miscarriages. Rudensky also discovered that fatty acids in the gut boost the formation of peripheral Tregs, which in turn help ward off inflammatory gut disorders, and that Tregs secrete a signaling molecule that mediates tissue repair and maintenance, establishing a central role for them in inflammation and allergies.

More recently, Rudensky and his colleagues have explored how Tregs influence cancer progression. Clinical trials involving Tregs in transplantation and autoimmune diseases are underway, and the coming years are poised to bring promising leads for cancer treatment.

 

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis (2017)
  • Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015)
  • William B. Coley Award (2015)
  • Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2012)

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Alexander Varshavsky

Born in Russia
Alexander Varshavsky receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for fundamental insights into the role of regulated protein degradation and the ubiquitin system in controlling protein levels within cells, with implications for an array of diseases, including cancer.
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Angelika Amon

Born in Austria
Angelika Amon (1967-2020) receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for groundbreaking research on the molecular signals that regulate cell growth and division, and how errors in these processes contribute to birth defects and cancer.
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2019 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

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Mikhail G. Shapiro receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing tools based on sound waves and magnetic fields, allowing for an unprecedented range of high-resolution, noninvasive imaging and control of cells in living organisms.
Portrait of Mikhail G. Shapiro

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