Professor Thomas Boehm receives the German Immunology Award of the DGfI

For his groundbreaking work in the field of the development of the immune system, the German Society for Immunology (DGfI) awards the German Immunology Prize 2020 to Professor Dr. med. Thomas Boehm, Director at the Max‐Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg. The prize should actually have been presented during the joint annual conference of the DGfI and the ÖGAI in Hanover on September 9^th, 2020. Since this conference had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, the award ceremony will now take place during the ECI conference in Belgrade in September 2021.

For many years, Professor Thomas Boehm has been one of the leading immunologists worldwide with his outstanding scientific achievements in the field of molecular mechanisms of the development of the immune system. His research focuses on the development and function of the thymus and T cells, as well as the evolution of the adaptive immune system. With his quite daring hypotheses, he has repeatedly challenged supposedly established paradigms and as a result has opened up completely new perspectives on the function and regulation of the immune system. This is also confirmed by current high‐ranking publications, in which processes of thymus‐dependent T‐cell development are described not only in mouse models, but in a whole range of animal species, from the simplest vertebrates (e.g. lampreys) to humans. This diversity of animal models has repeatedly provided Thomas Boehm and his colleagues with new insights into the fascinating evolution of the immune system, which is characterised in jawed vertebrates by the first appearance of specialised “lymphopoietic” tissues with T‐ and B‐like cells, considered to be ancestors of the mammalian T‐ and B‐lymphocytes. In contrast, in more primitive jawless vertebrates (e.g. lampreys), the genetic mechanisms that enable a large repertoire of structurally different antigen receptors to develop, appear to have developed largely independently. They are correspondingly different in comparison to more recently evolved jawed vertebrates, up to primates and humans.

Thomas Boehm has also devoted himself to the immunology underlying the observation that we sometimes cannot stand somebody. Based on his mechanistic studies in fish and mice, he found that we humans could actually tell – from the body odour of other people – which peptide ligands of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are made accessible to olfactory sensory cells. Self‐peptides in the context of their cognate HLA alleles are apparently perceived in certain brain regions as less fragrant than “perfume‐like” foreign peptides. So when people “sniff out” each other, there could be more to it than they might have thought: namely a sensory influenced partner selection based on the functional link between the immunogenetics of HLA polymorphisms and the olfactory evaluation of the corresponding peptide ligands.

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Boehm has been Director at the Max‐Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg since 1998, where he heads the department “Development of the Immune System”. He was previously Professor at the German Cancer Research Centre, DKFZ, in Heidelberg from 1995 to 1997, having served as Professor of the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg before. Prof. Boehm spent his post‐doctoral period from 1987 to 1991 in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, to where he went after finishing his clinical/experimental post‐doctoral training in paediatrics and biological chemistry from 1982 to 1986 at the medical faculty of the University of Frankfurt, where he had also completed his medical studies.

About the German Immunology Award

The German Immunology Award is the highest scientific award of the German Society of Immunology (DGfI). It is endowed with 10.000 EUR.

The prize is awarded to an internationally renowned person who has contributed with outstanding achievements to the elucidation of basic immunological principles and/or to the translation of basic research into clinical application. Further information can be found at www.dgfi.org.

The German Immunology Award is made possible by a generous donation from AbbVie Germany. The awardee is selected by the DGfI Executive and Advisory board.

This text was taken from the press release of the DGfI journal ‘Immunologie’ issue 3/2020.

中文翻译：

---

2020年德国免疫学会奖

Thomas Boehm教授获得DGfI的德国免疫学奖

由于在免疫系统发展领域的开创性工作，德国免疫学学会（DGfI）将2020年德国免疫学奖授予med博士。弗莱堡马克斯·普朗克免疫生物学和表观遗传学研究所所长Thomas Boehm。该奖项实际上应该在2020年9月9^日在汉诺威举行的DGfI和ÖGAI联合年度会议上颁发的。由于大流行该会议不得不取消，因此颁奖典礼将在ECI会议期间举行。 2021年9月在贝尔格莱德

多年来，Thomas Boehm教授一直是全球领先的免疫学家之一，他在免疫系统发育的分子机制领域中拥有杰出的科学成就。他的研究专注于胸腺和T细胞的发育和功能，以及适应性免疫系统的进化。凭借他大胆的假设，他反复挑战了公认的范例，结果为免疫系统的功能和调节开辟了全新的视角。当前的高级出版物也证实了这一点，其中不仅在小鼠模型中描述了胸腺依赖性T细胞发育的过程，而且还描​​述了从最简单的脊椎动物（例如七lamp鳗）到人类的整个动物物种。这种动物模型的多样性一再为Thomas Boehm和他的同事们提供了有关免疫系统令人着迷的进化的新见解，这种免疫系统的特征是在有颚脊椎动物中首次出现了带有T和B类细胞的专门“淋巴组织”组织，被认为是哺乳动物T和B淋巴细胞的祖先。相反，在更原始的无颌脊椎动物中（例如七lamp鳗），能够发展出结构上不同的抗原受体的大量组成的遗传机制似乎在很大程度上是独立发展的。与最近进化的颌骨脊椎动物相比，它们相应地有所不同，直至灵长类和人。在颌骨脊椎动物中，其特征是首次出现带有T和B类细胞的专门“淋巴细胞”组织，被认为是哺乳动物T和B淋巴细胞的祖先。相反，在更原始的无颌脊椎动物中（例如七lamp鳗），能够发展出结构上不同的抗原受体的大量组成的遗传机制似乎在很大程度上是独立发展的。与最近进化的颌骨脊椎动物相比，它们相应地有所不同，直至灵长类和人。在颌骨脊椎动物中，其特征是首次出现带有T和B类细胞的专门“淋巴细胞”组织，被认为是哺乳动物T和B淋巴细胞的祖先。相反，在更原始的无颌脊椎动物中（例如七lamp鳗），能够发展出结构上不同的抗原受体的大量组成的遗传机制似乎在很大程度上是独立发展的。与最近进化的有颚脊椎动物相比，它们分别不同，直到灵长类和人类。使得大量结构不同的抗原受体得以发展的遗传机制似乎在很大程度上是独立发展的。与最近进化的有颚脊椎动物相比，它们分别不同，直到灵长类和人类。使得大量结构不同的抗原受体得以发展的遗传机制似乎在很大程度上是独立发展的。与最近进化的颌骨脊椎动物相比，它们相应地有所不同，直至灵长类和人。

托马斯·勃姆（Thomas Boehm）还致力于免疫学，这种免疫学是我们有时无法忍受某人的观察的基础。根据他在鱼类和小鼠中的机理研究，他发现我们人类实际上可以从其他人的体味中分辨出嗅觉感觉细胞可以接近人类白细胞抗原（HLA）的哪些肽配体。在某些HLA等位基因的背景下，自肽在某些大脑区域显然比“类似香水的”外源肽香。因此，当人们相互“嗅出”时，可能会有比他们想象的更多的东西：即基于HLA多态性的免疫遗传学和相应肽配体的嗅觉评估之间的功能联系的感官影响伴侣选择。

教授med。自1998年以来，Thomas Boehm一直担任弗莱堡马克斯·普朗克免疫生物学和表观遗传学研究所所长，领导该部门“免疫系统的发展”。他曾于1995年至1997年在海德堡的DKFZ德国癌症研究中心任教授，此前曾在弗莱堡大学医学院任教。Boehm教授于1987年至1991年在英国剑桥的分子生物学实验室度过了博士后时期，并于1982年至1986年完成了儿科和生物化学的临床/实验性博士后培训后就去了那里。他还曾在法兰克福大学任教，并完成了医学研究。

关于德国免疫学奖

德国免疫学奖是德国免疫学学会（DGfI）的最高科学奖。它被赋予10.000欧元。

该奖项颁发给在阐明基本免疫学原理和/或将基础研究转化为临床应用方面做出杰出贡献的国际知名人士。有关更多信息，请访问www.dgfi.org。

德国免疫学奖是由德国AbbVie慷慨捐赠而获得的。获奖者由DGfI执行和顾问委员会选出。

本文摘自DGfI杂志“免疫学”第3/2020期的新闻稿。