Michel Nussenzweig: Antibody Responses to Vaccination and Infection in Mice and Humans

Michel Nussenzweig was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During his PhD with Ralph Steinman at Rockefeller University, he discovered that dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells. He returned to Rockefeller University in 1990 as an assistant professor and Howard Hughes Investigator to head an independent laboratory. He was promoted to professor in 1996 and holds the Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Chair of Immunology. Nussenzweig’s laboratory studies the molecular aspects of the immune system’s innate and adaptive responses using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. In his work on adaptive immunity, he focuses on B lymphocytes and antibodies to HIV-1, while his studies of innate immunity focus on dendritic cells. His work led to the rapid development of new antibody-based therapies for infections by HIV and the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.