Pettenkofer Prize for Timo Rückert

Dr. Timo Rückert, postdoc in Chiara Romagnani’s liaison research group at DRFZ and the Institute of Medical Immunology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has been awarded the Pettenkofer Prize for his research on clonal immune memory in the innate immune system.

The Pettenkofer Foundation in Munich recognises outstanding scientists with exceptional achievements in the fields of hygiene, medical microbiology and medical virology with an award of EUR 5,000 sponsored by Roche. The award ceremony took place in the New Munich City Hall.

Clonal immune memory in the innate immune system

The human immune system consists of the adaptive and the innate immune system. While the adaptive immune system builds up a long-lasting immune memory through specific defence cells, the innate immune system was previously considered to only react rapidly and with no long-term memory.

However, Timo Rückert’s research shows that the innate immune system can also develop a kind of immune memory. The biologist and his colleagues discovered that certain natural killer cells (NK cells) react to the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) with massive proliferation. These specialised cells retain their defensive properties for years and can react to CMV again.

This was the first demonstration of a long-term, clonal immune memory in the innate immune system, which could help to better understand immune reactions in infections, vaccinations and autoimmune diseases.