Peter Charles Doherty (born 15 October 1940) is an Australian immunologist and Nobel laureate. He received the

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for a fundamental discovery that opens up a new area of biomedical science. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine; almost 5 ...

in 1995, the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accordi ...

jointly with Rolf M. Zinkernagel in 1996 and was named

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territ ...

in 1997. In the Australia Day Honours of 1997, he was named a Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

for his work with Zinkernagel. He is also a National Trust Australian Living Treasure. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Doherty's immune system research was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as an iconic "innovation and invention".

Early life and education

Peter Charles Doherty was born in the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

suburb of

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland * Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...

on 15 October 1940, to Eric Charles Doherty and Linda Doherty (née Byford). He grew up in Oxley, and attended

Indooroopilly State High School Indooroopilly State High School (ISHS), colloquially known as "Indro", is a state high school situated in the south-western suburb of Indooroopilly in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The school was founded in 1954, and offers the Internationa ...

(which now has a lecture theatre named after him). After receiving his bachelor's degree in veterinary science in 1962 from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, he was a rural veterinary officer for the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock before taking up laboratory-based work at the Department's Animal Research Institute. There he met microbiology graduate Penelope Stephens and they were married in 1965. Doherty received his master's degree in veterinary science in 1966 from the University of Queensland. He obtained his PhD in pathology in 1970 from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

, Scotland, then returned to Australia to continue his research at the John Curtin School of Medical Research within the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Research and career

Doherty's research focuses on the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

and his Nobel work described how the body's immune cells protect against viruses. He and Rolf Zinkernagel, the co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, discovered how

T cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell r ...

s recognise their target antigens in combination with

major histocompatibility complex The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. These cell surface proteins are cal ...

(MHC) proteins. Viruses infect host cells and reproduce inside them. Killer T-cells destroy those infected cells so that the viruses cannot reproduce. Zinkernagel and Doherty discovered that, in order for killer T cells to recognise infected cells, they had to recognise two molecules on the surface of the cell – not only the virus antigen, but also a molecule of the

(MHC). This recognition was done by a T-cell receptor on the surface of the T cell. The MHC was previously identified as being responsible for the rejection of incompatible tissues during transplantation. Zinkernagel and Doherty discovered that the MHC was responsible for the body fighting

meningitis viruses Viral meningitis, also known as aseptic meningitis, is a type of meningitis due to a viral infection. It results in inflammation of the meninges (the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord). Symptoms commonly include headache, fever, sensi ...

too.

Awards and honours

Doherty was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1987. In 1997, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He is the patron of the eponymous Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), a joint venture between the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

and Melbourne Health. It houses a group of infection and immunology experts, including Director Professor

Sharon Lewin Sharon Ruth Lewin , is the inaugural Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. She is also a Professor of Medicine at The University of Melbourne and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitione ...

, who are charged with leading the battle against infectious diseases in humans. This became operational in 2014. He became an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2015. In the same year he was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences is an academy to promote health and medical sciences in Australia. It was established in June 2014. It cites "The Academy will serve the three purposes identified as of high priority in the 20 ...

(FAHMS). In April 2017 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Victoria (FRSV). John Monash Science School, Moreton Bay Boys College, and Murrumba State Secondary College each have a house named after him.

Non academic publications

* * * * * * * *

Personal life

, Peter Doherty and his wife Penny live in Melbourne. They have two sons, Michael, a neurologist working in the United States, and James, a Melbourne-based barrister, and six grandchildren. Doherty currently spends three months of the year conducting research at

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, par ...

in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is a faculty member at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center through the College of Medicine. For the other 9 months of the year, he works in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the

, Victoria.

References

External links

Noble Prize biographical information
(including his Nobel Lecture on "Cell Mediated Immunity in Virus Infections") *
Radio Interview
from

This Week in Science Kirsten "Kiki" Sanford is an American neurophysiologist and science communicator. After working at the University of California, Davis as a research scientist, she left research work to pursue a career in science communication. Her work has in ...

5 September 2005 broadcast
"Winning a Nobel: easy as wrestling a pig"
by Margaret Wertheim, ''Cosmos'' magazine, October 2006

on ttp://www.abc.net.au/tv/fora/default.htm ABC Fora(video) * (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Peter C. 1940 births Living people Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Australian National University faculty Australian Nobel laureates Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Australian of the Year Award winners Companions of the Order of Australia Australian immunologists Australian veterinarians Male veterinarians People from Brisbane Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences University of Queensland alumni Fellows of the Royal Society Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Queensland Greats Australian republicans