Crafoord Prize laureates honoured for autoimmune disease work
8 Feb 2025
Darwin and Wallace, Newton and Leibniz, or Priestley, Scheele and Lavoisier – history provides numerous examples of scientists independently making breakthrough discoveries in the same area of research.
Now, two researchers whose work, independent of one another, examines the role of B cells in autoimmune disease, have shared one of Sweden’s most prestigious scientific awards.
Australian Christopher Goodnow (left) and American David Nemazee (right) are joint winners of this year’s Crafoord prize in Polyarthritis, organised by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. They will share the 6 million Swedish kroner (£430,000) prize money at a ceremony in May headed by monarch King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Understanding more about the mechanisms responsible for the immune system attacking tissue rather than defending the body offers hope, says the Academy for combatting conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.
Goodnow and Nemazee’s work centred on B cells, which form part of the immune system along with white blood cells and T cells.
“They have given us a new and detailed understanding of the mechanisms that normally prevent faulty B cells from attacking tissues in the body, explaining why most of us are not affected by autoimmune diseases,” commented prize committee chair and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences member Olle Kämpe.
Recent encouraging developments have seen existing drugs harnessed to neutralise B cells for conditions, prompting greater interest in this area, said professor of rheumatology at Lund University and consultant at Skåne University Hospital, Anders Bengtsson.
The Royal Swedish Academy said that the laureates’ work had provided fundamental new knowledge about the workings of the immune system in autoimmune disease, which “may also lead to completely new therapies, perhaps even a cure in the future”.
Said Goodnow: “I’m honoured and very happy that the Academy gives this recognition to basic science, providing the foundations for understanding and treating disease.
“It’s also wonderful to share the prize with David Nemazee. We were friendly competitors working at different places in the world, and the two of us arrived at complementary answers at a time when most working in the field didn’t believe B cell tolerance was a thing.”
See a video about this year’s prize below.
Established by rheumatology pioneer Anna-Greta Crafoord and her husband the industrialist and philanthropist Holger Crafoord (pictured centre), the Crafoord prize was first awarded in 1982, the year of Holger Crafoord’s death. It promotes international basic research in mathematics and astronomy, geosciences, biosciences (particularly ecology) and polyarthritis, with the prize being awarded to the disciplines on a rotational basis.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, promotes the sciences and strengthen their influence in society, especially the natural sciences and mathematics.
