Dausset

Dausset, Jean, 1916-2009, French immunologist. A physician specializing in blood diseases, he was the laboratory director of the National Blood Transfusion Center (1946-63) and a professor at the Univ. of Paris (1958-77) and the Collège de France. He identified a gene complex (human leucocyte A complex, or HLA) that accounted for different immunological reactions in humans to blood transfusions and to the introduction of foreign tissues. This was similar to the H-2 complex in mice identified by George Snell. The discovery revolutionized the understanding of the human immune system and aided enormously in the success of organ transplant surgery. Dausset, Snell, and Baruj Benacerraf shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the relationship between genetics and the immune system. In 1984 Dausset established a research institute in Paris, which became (1993) the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH; he served as its president until 2003. The nonprofit institute coordinated the first international collaboration for the mapping of the human genome. Dausset also coauthored a number of books including Histocompatibility (1976) and Immunology (1980).

Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset (b. October 19, 1916, Toulouse, France) is a French immunologist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell for their discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex.

With his Nobel Prize and a grant from the French Television, Dausset was able in 1984 to create the Human Polymorphism Study Center (CEPH), which soon after became Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH.

References

• Raju, T N (1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1980: George Davis Snell (1903-96); Jean Baptiste Dausset (b 1916); Baruj Benacerraf (b 1920)". Lancet 354 (9191): 1738.
• Rapaport, F T (1997). "1996 Medawar Prize Citation for Professor Jean Dausset". Transplant. Proc. 29 (1-2): 31.
• Petrányi, G (1981). "[Nobel Prize winners in medicine for 1980. Immunogenetic significance of the main histocompatibility system (George Snell, Jean Dausset, Baruj Benacerraf)]". Orvosi hetilap 122 (14): 835–7.

External links

• Karl Grandin, ed. Jean Dausset Biography. Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-07-29..