Michael Sela
מיכאל סלע
Michael Sela
Born
Mieczysław Salomonowicz

(1924-03-02)2 March 1924
Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland
Died27 May 2022(2022-05-27) (aged 98)
Rehovot, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
Occupationimmunologist
Known for
TitleW. Garfield Weston Professor of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science
Awards

Michael Sela (Hebrew: מיכאל סלע; Mieczysław Salomonowicz; 2 March 1924 – 27 May 2022) was an Israeli immunologist of Polish Jewish origin. He was the W. Garfield Weston Professor of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.[1] He was a president of the Weizmann Institute of Science.[2]

Early life and academic career

Michael Sela was born as Mieczysław Salomonowicz in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on 2 March 1924.[3][4][5] In 1935 when he was 11 years old he and his family moved to Romania.[4][6] In 1941 when he was 17 years old he and his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine.[4][7] He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (M.Sc., Chemistry, 1946; Ph.D., 1954).[8]

Sela was professor in the Weizmann Institute's Immunology Department. He was also a president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, from 1975 to 1985. He died in Rehovot on 27 May 2022 at the age of 98.[9]

Research

Sela is known for his research in immunology, particularly for research on synthetic antigens,[10] molecules that trigger the immune system to attack. This work of Sela has led to the discovery of the genetic control of the immune response, as well as to the design of vaccines based on synthetic molecules.

He was among the first who introduced the use of linear and branched synthetic polypeptides as antigens, and this brought about a better understanding of immunological phenomena.[11]

For several decades, Sela was interested in the possibility of fighting the autoimmune disease, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis[12] with synthetic analogs of the molecules in the myelin sheath of the brain which are capable of provoking the disease.

He is probably best known as the co-developer (with Ruth Arnon and Dvora Teitelbaum) of the multiple sclerosis drug copaxone.[13]

Awards and honours

Sela received numerous major national and international awards:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Michael Sela at the Weizmann Institute of Science
  2. ↑ "מסע הקסם המדעי - חדשות מדע, תגליות ומידע לציבור מבית מכון ויצמן למדע". מסע הקסם המדעי - חדשות מדע, תגליות ומידע לציבור מבית מכון ויצמן למדע (in Hebrew). Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Prof. Michael Sela | Still hard at work, pursuing the understanding of immunology | WeizmannCompass". Weizmann.ac.il. 4 June 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Oral History Project - Michael Sela". In.bgu.ac.il. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  5. ↑ USA (6 May 2019). "Isolation and Characterization of Antibodies: the Work of Michael Sela". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 285 (39): e12–e14. doi:10.1074/jbc.O110.000235. PMC 2943276.
  6. ↑ "Historical perspective: An interview with renowned Immunologist Dr. Michael Sela "
  7. ↑ "Prof. Michael Sela | Still hard at work, pursuing the understanding of immunology | WeizmannCompass". Weizmann.ac.il. 4 June 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Probing into the realm of proteins and immunity "
  9. ↑ "Obituary" (PDF). The Lancet. 400. 2022.
  10. ↑ Sela, M. (1969). "Antigenicity - some molecular aspects". Science. 166 (3911): 1365–1374. Bibcode:1969Sci...166.1365S. doi:10.1126/science.166.3911.1365. PMID 4900368.
  11. ↑ McDevitt, Hugh O.; Sela, Michael (1965). "Genetic control of antibody response. 1. Demonstration of determinant-specific differences in response to synthetic polypeptide antigens in two strains of inbred mice". J. Exp. Med. 122 (3): 517–531. doi:10.1084/jem.122.3.517. PMC 2138070. PMID 5839284. S2CID 16188026.
  12. ↑ Aharoni, R; Teitelbaum, D; Sela, M; Arnon, R (1997). "Copolymer 1 induces T cells of the T helper type 2 that crossreact with myelin basic protein and suppress experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 94 (20): 10821–10826. Bibcode:1997PNAS...9410821A. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.20.10821. PMC 23498. PMID 9380718.
  13. ↑ Bornstein, M B; Miller, A; Slagle, S; Weitzman, M; Drexler, E; Keilson, M; Spada, V; Weiss, W; Appel, S; Rolak, L; Harati, Y; Brown, S; Arnon, R; Jacobsohn, I; Teitelbaum, D; Sela, M (1991). "A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, 2-center, pilot trial of COP 1 in chronic progressive multiple sclerosis". Neurology. 41 (4): 533–539. doi:10.1212/WNL.41.4.533. PMID 2011253. S2CID 12602679.
  14. ↑ "Israel Prize recipients in 1959 (in Hebrew)". Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "Otto-Warburg-Medal". GBM. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "Michael Sela". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "Michael Sela". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  18. ↑ "Membrii Academiei Române". Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  19. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  20. ↑ The Wolf Prize in Medicine Archived 26 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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