Nordic Life Science 1
32 “REALLY DIVE DEEPLY INTO SOMETHING THAT EXCITE
S YOU” Nobel Prize laureate Mary E. Brunkow’s career path has shifted between industry and academia but her end goal to generate clinical benefit and her passion for exploring new areas have never wavered. T E X T B Y E L L E N R . D E L I S I O P H O T O B Y A L E X G A R L A N D F OR I S B T HE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM OPERATES LIKE A TEN-ARMED SOCCER GOALIE defending against a constant onslaught of threats. When one health hazard is neutralized, another surfaces. Until 25 years ago, it was unclear how the body was able to determine friend from foe and what kept it from attacking healthy organs. That changed in 2001 when research by American scientists Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell combined with discoveries by Japanese scientist Shimon Sakaguchi led to the identification of the cells that keep the immune system under control, earning the trio the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. News of the award took Brunkow completely by surprise, she says to NLS, especially since she silenced her phone after several early morning calls from Sweden that she thought were spam. The reality hit home when her husband opened the door in the early hours and was greeted by a photographer who delivered the news. Groundbreaking work Mary Brunkow, now a senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, Washington, US, did her groundbreaking work at Darwin Molecular, which THE NOBEL PRICE // MEDICINE Z