Emil R. Unanue

Emil Raphael Unanue
Born	September 13, 1934(1934-09-13) Republic of Cuba
Died	December 16, 2022(2022-12-17)(aged 88)
Citizenship	Cuba (birth),U.S.
Alma mater	University of Havana
Known for	Research inimmunology
Scientific career
Fields	Scientist;Immunologist;Educator; [Author]
Institutions	Harvard University;Scripps Research Institute;Washington University in St. Louis
Doctoral students	Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin

Emil Raphael Unanue(September 13, 1934 – December 16, 2022) was a Cuban-Americanimmunologistand Paul & Ellen Lacy Professor Emeritus atWashington University School of Medicine.He is a member of theNational Academy of Sciences,theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesand theInstitute of Medicine.He previously served as chair of the National Academy of Sciences Section of Microbiology and Immunology.

Area of expertise

Unanue initiated a field of study known asantigen presentation;it is critical to the development ofvaccinesand underlies an understanding of microbial immunity andautoimmune diseases.

In the late 1970s, it was recognized that T lymphocytes could not recognizeantigendirectly and instead required an interaction with another specialized cell known as theAntigen-presenting cell.Nobel Prizewinners,Rolf ZinkernagelandPeter C. Dohertyshowed that this recognition also required the antigen-presenting cell to be from the same genetic background as the T-cell. That observation, calledMHC restriction,led to a conundrum; namely, that the ability of a T cell to recognize foreign antigen also required that it recognize "self"

WithPaul M. Allen,the Robert L. Kroc Professor atWashington University School of Medicine,Unanue discovered that peptides from foreign antigens were bound to a group of molecules known as themajor histocompatibility complex(MHC). This peptide-MHC complex was shown to be recognized by T cells. Although the latter hypothesis was initially greeted with intense skepticism, a large body of work, generated over the last two decades, has confirmed its validity.

Education and early career

Emil Unanue received his doctorate from theUniversity of Havana(Cuba) in 1960. He then immigrated to the United States and studied briefly at theUniversity of Pittsburgh.Following that experience, Unanue was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, nowThe Scripps Research InstituteinLa Jolla,California. With his mentor, Dr.Frank J. Dixon,he made a series of contributions to the field of renal pathophysiology by examining the immune basis ofglomerulonephritis.Unanue then joined the group headed by Dr.Brigitte Askonasat theNational Institute for Medical ResearchatMill Hillin London.

Together, Unanue & Askonas made the seminal observation thatmacrophagesdid not completely catabolize antigens, foreshadowing development of the field ofantigen processingand presentation. In 1970, Unanue was given an appointment in the Department of Pathology atHarvard Medical School,where he quickly rose through the academic ranks to become the Mallinckrodt Professor of Immunopathology in 1974.

While atHarvard University,he and his colleagues made observations in the areas of immunoglobulin capping onB cellsand host defenses to bacteria such asListeria monocytogenes.That work culminated in the conclusion that MHC molecules mediate the display of processed peptides to T cells.

Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri

From 1985 to 2006, Unanue was the chairman of pathology and immunology and Mallinckrodt Professor atWashington University School of Medicine.He was preceded in that position by Dr.Paul Eston Lacy,and succeeded by Dr.Herbert "Skip" Virgin.Unanue's research focused on the molecular mechanisms of antigen processing, the immunological basis of autoimmunediabetes,and immune responses to intracellular bacteria.

Illness and death

Unanue developed a malignant brain tumor,glioblastoma multiforme,in 2020.He died of that disease in 2022.

Awards

• 1989 Cancer Research InstituteWilliam B. Coley Award
• 1995Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• 2000Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 2005Robert KochGold Medal
• 2014American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award

External links

• Lasker Award Recipients' Page
• Faculty Webpage at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
• ISI Highly Cited Researchers
• "From antigen processing to peptide-MHC binding", Nature Immunology - 7, 1277 - 1279 (2006)