UC San Diego Alumnus Wins Nobel Prize For Contributions To Medicine

SAN DIEGO, CA — A Bay Area scientist and UC San Diego alumnus was one of three people awarded a Nobel Prize on Monday for their contributions in the field of medicine.

Fred Ramsdell, a co-founder of Sonoma Biotherapeutics in the Bay Area, was awarded the prize for his "groundbreaking discoveries" related to the immune system, which may lay the foundation for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer, according to the Nobel Prize Foundation. The other two scientists were Mary E. Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguchi.

Their research helped identify what are considered the "security guards" of the immune system, known as regulatory T cells. These cells help prevent the immune system from attacking itself.

“Their discoveries have been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases,” Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee, said in a press release Monday.

Ramsdell's previous work in discovering the FOXPF3 gene, which creates a protein essential for the development and function of the regulatory T cells, helped change the field of immunology, according to Sonoma Biotherapeutics.

"Like many great scientists, Fred spent years working behind the scenes to identify the gene that caused devastating systemic autoimmune diseases in a little-known strain of mice,” Jeff Bluestone, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, said in a statement Monday. "The discovery of the gene, FOXP3, changed our understanding of peripheral tolerance and led to a new field of immunotherapy.”

Ramsdell, who currently serves as the scientific advisor for the company he once helped found, graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and cell biology. He then went on to earn a doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Fred Ramsdell’s research on the immune system has transformed our understanding of autoimmune diseases and led to treatments that are saving lives around the world,” UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said Monday. “From improving care for conditions like multiple sclerosis to advancing cancer therapies, his work is driving medical breakthroughs that will shape the future of human health."

Before co-founding Sonoma Biotherapeutics, he was the chief security officer at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI). There, he helped develop multiple research programs, according to Sonoma Biotherapeutics.

The award winners will split a prize of $1.172 million, according to the Nobel Prize Foundation.