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Off-Grid Trip Ends With Nobel Call for Immunologist Fred Ramsdell

The award honors discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance that are propelling new treatments into clinical trials.

Overview

  • Ramsdell learned of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine during a camping trip when his wife briefly regained cellphone service and saw hundreds of messages.
  • He had missed a pre-dawn call from the Nobel Committee and later spoke with secretary‑general Thomas Perlmann roughly 20 hours after the first attempt.
  • The prize is shared with Mary E. Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguchi for work that explains how the immune system avoids attacking the body’s own tissues.
  • Reporting notes that Brunkow initially dismissed the early call as spam, while Sakaguchi was reached later that morning as officials tried to contact the laureates.
  • Ramsdell co‑founded Sonoma Biotherapeutics, which develops T cell therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and the winners will receive 11 million Swedish crowns and gold medals.