OREANDA-NEWS. Today Novartis announced that six scientists will receive the 2016 Novartis Prizes for Immunology at the upcoming 16th International Congress of Immunology (ICI) in Melbourne, Australia on Aug 22, 2016.

The Novartis Prizes for Immunology are awarded every three years for breakthrough contributions to the fields of basic and clinical immunology. Each of the two Prize categories is endowed for CHF 100,000 and can be shared by up to three scientists.

"This year's prize recipients are scientific pioneers who have delivered novel concepts and opened the door to uncharted fields at the forefront of immunological research," said Dhavalkumar D. Patel, M.D., Ph.D, Head of Research Europe and Global Head, Autoimmunity, Transplantation and Inflammation research at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. "We are proud to sponsor these prizes as part of our continued commitment to supporting innovative research in immunology."

The winners were selected by an independent jury of seven world-class immunologists for their groundbreaking research into the biology of the immune system. Each recipient has had a tremendous impact on the understanding of T-cell mediated mechanisms such as tolerance (basic immunology) and how these principles can be exploited to design therapeutic approaches (clinical immunology).

The Novartis Prize for Basic Immunology 2016 is shared by John Kappler (National Jewish Health, USA), Philippa Marrack (National Jewish Health, USA) and Harald von Boehmer (Emeritus, Harvard Medical School, USA) for their work in demonstrating how the immune system is able to discriminate "self" from "non-self" through a process in the thymus based on positive and negative selection via T-cell receptor mediated recognition of peptide-MHC complexes.

The Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunology 2016 is awarded to Zelig Eshhar (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), Carl June (University of Pennsylvania, USA) and Steven Rosenberg (National Institutes of Health, USA) for their work on the pre-clinical and clinical development as well as technological application of cellular immune therapy using Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cells (CAR-T-cells) for diseases such as cancer.

"Immune disorders destroy the lives of many and increased research in this field is vital," said Hidde Ploegh, Jury chair, "these prestigious awards recognize the outstanding contributions made by the world's top scientists. It is so important that we recognize and reward these exceptional scientists who have paved the way for future research and treatment."

Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2015, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.4 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 8.9 billion (USD 8.7 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are available in more than 180 countries around the world.