Michael Sela

Michael Sela (actually Mieczyslaw Solomonowicz; born March 2, 1924 in Tomaszów ) is an Israeli biochemist and immunologist.

Sela studied at the Weizmann Institute, where he also received his doctorate in Ephraim Katchalski. As a post-doctoral fellow he was with Christian B. Anfinsen at the laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. In 1957 he was again at the Weizmann Institute, where he turned to the Immunology and Professor of Immunology. 1963 to 1975 he was Director of the Department of Immunology. 1970/71 he was Vice President and 1975-1985 President of the Weizmann Institute, and 1970 to 1973 Dean of the Faculty of Biology. He is currently professor W. Garfield Weston Professor of Immunology.

He is known for research on the immune system by synthetic antigens, which led, among other things, to better understand the genetic control of the immune system and approaches to the development of drugs with artificial antigens. His research concerns the treatment of EAE with artificial antigens that resemble molecules of the myelin sheath.

In 1998 he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine with Ruth Arnon. In 1959 he was awarded the Israel Prize, and in 1968 the Rothschild price. In 1973 he was awarded the Emil Behring Price, 1980 Gairdner Foundation International Award, the prize of the French Institut de la Vie and 1995, the Albert Einstein Gold Medal of UNESCO. He is an officer of the Legion of Honor and Knight of the Grand Cross ( neck badge ) of the Federal Cross of Merit. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences and since 1989 the Leopoldina.