University of Leicester academic receives prestigious award for his work in immunology

Published by University of Leicester Press Office for University of Leicester in Health and also in Education

A University of Leicester scientist has been honoured with a prestigious award from the Royal Society, the most distinguished scientific society in the United Kingdom.

Professor Wilhelm Schwaeble, of the University’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, received a Royal Society’s Wolfson Research Merit award.

The award includes a grant to the University totalling £100,000.

Professor Schwaeble and his co-workers discovered a novel link between two activation pathways of the innate immune system, which so far were seen as separate entities.

This discovery significantly advances the understanding of the way humoral immune responses are initiated and allows to design new therapies to treat infection and/or immune-mediated acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.

When the innate immune response overreacts, it can cause a number of inflammatory disorders - from allergies (such as hay fever) to fatal diseases leading to the loss of tissue and organ functions.

Professor Schwaeble’s present research team includes two research fellows (Dr Nicholas Lynch and Dr Youssif Mohammed Ali) and 12 PhD students.

Professor Schwaeble said: “I am thrilled to receive this award and consider it not only as an honour for myself, but for the exceptional research environment that the University of Leicester provided for my team.

“I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues and collaborators and the funding organisations, such as the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, who have funded this research at both project and programme grant level for almost 19 years. I also wish to thank my industrial collaborators for providing the knowledge and the funds required to translate this research into clinical applications.”

Professor Schwaeble started his scientific career in the Institute of Immunology in Munich, Germany, and was appointed at the University of Leicester in 1993.

Since then, he has supervised more than 30 PhD students, and was awarded the Daiwa-Adrian Prize in 2001 for excellence in Anglo-Japanese research collaborations with Professor Teizo Fujita, Fukushima Medical School in Japan.