Philippa "Pippa" Marrack, FRS (born 28 June 1945) is an English immunologist and academic, based in the United States, best known for her research and discoveries pertaining to

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. Marrack is the Ida and Cecil Green Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Research at

National Jewish Health National Jewish Health is a Denver, Colorado academic hospital/clinic doing research and treatment in respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. It is an internationally respected medical center that draws people from many countries to ...

and a distinguished professor of immunology and microbiology at the

University of Colorado Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado creat ...

Biography

Marrack was born in

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a suburban area with a village centre in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, approximately south of central London and northeast of Epsom. In the 2011 Census, the settlement had a population of 34,872, a majority of wh ...

, England on 28 June 1945. Born in England, she maintains her British and American citizenship currently. Marrack's father served in the Royal Navy, so her family moved frequently throughout her childhood. Marrack notes that the longest she lived in one place during her early years was in Cambridge where she began pursuing her undergraduate degree. After attending

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, Marrack moved to the United States to complete postdoctoral work and research. In the United States she met her lifelong partner and husband, John W. Kappler. They have completed much research and accomplished many advancements in the fields of immunology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Marrack and Kappler have two children together. Outside of science, Philippa Marrack enjoys playing the piano, as well as running along the Platte River with her Labradors.

Education

Marrack completed both undergraduate (1967) and Ph.D. (1970) at Cambridge University in

New Hall, Cambridge New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. During her Ph.D., Marrack worked at the

MRC MRC may refer to Government * Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) * Medical Reserve Corps, a US network of volunteer organizations * Municipalité régionale de comté (regional county municipality), Quebec, Canada * Military Revolutionar ...

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

with Alan Munro, where she began to study the differences between

s and B cells. Alan Munro became her thesis advisor; she became the graduate student that worked with him due to his interest in working with a relative of John Marrack.

John Marrack Professor John Richardson Marrack, DSO, MC (26 November 1886 – 1976) was the Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology in the University of London, visiting professor to the University of Texas and known for his book ''Antigens and Antibodies' ...

was Philippa Marrack's grandfather's brother, and a very well-known immunologist in the 1930s. Marrack notes that he indirectly influenced her to pursue the study of immunology. Marrack then moved to La Jolla, San Diego with her first husband and completed postdoctoral work with Richard Dutton at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

. She credits Dutton as having a tremendous impact on her career during her fellowship, as he taught her how to write, lecture, and run a lab, as well as how to think critically.

Career

Marrack met her lifelong partner and current husband, John W. Kappler, as a postdoctoral fellow at the

. Her first faculty position was at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

, where she taught an undergraduate immunology course. The pair launched a joint lab at the

. At the same time, she received independent funding from the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society to study T cells. Marrack obtained an associate professorship at the University of Rochester, followed by faculty positions at the

, Denver, Colorado and the

. She was also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Throughout her career, Marrack has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles. Her numerous citations and journal articles places her as the third most influential researcher in the nation and distinguishes her as top female researcher.

Research interests

In 1983 while working in the labs at the National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, Philippa Marrack and her husband and research partner, John Kappler, discovered and isolated the T cell receptor, together with Ellis Reinherz and James Allison. Resulting from this research, in 1987 Marrack discovered how the immune system is capable of molecular discrimination, as the human body can get rid of T cells that target the body's own tissues, destroying them in the

thymus The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or ''T cells'' mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. ...

before they have a chance to cause problems, yet the body retains the cells that combat invaders. She learned that destructive cells that fail to be destroyed can cause autoimmune diseases like AIDS,

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, Multiple sclerosis, and lupus. This foundational work on immunological tolerance by Marrack and Kappler led to their later discovery in 1990 of superantigens: powerful toxins that stimulate a large amounts of T-cell proliferation and can cause devastating immune response and violent symptoms such as those seen in

toxic shock syndrome Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a condition caused by bacterial toxins. Symptoms may include fever, rash, skin peeling, and low blood pressure. There may also be symptoms related to the specific underlying infection such as mastitis, osteomyeli ...

or food poisoning. Marrack's current research projects focus on why certain autoimmune diseases, like lupus or Multiple sclerosis, are more prevalent in women than in men. Marrack and Kappler have recently discovered a population of B cells that may account for some of this observation. Her pioneering and revolutionary work isolating the T-cell receptor and describing how T cells protect against infection, drive autoimmune and allergic diseases, and play a possible role in rejection of cancers, has contributed greatly to the current understanding of vaccines, HIV, and immune disorders in the medical field.

Professional activities

Marrack has served on editorial boards and many scientific journals including Cell, Science, and the Journal of Immunology. She has also served on various boards and panels for the American Cancer Society, the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, and the Burroughs Welcome Fund. From 1986 to 2017, Marrack was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. From 1995 to 2002, Marrack served on the American Association of Immunologists Council and served as president of the

American Association of Immunologists The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) is an international scientific society dedicated to furthering the study of immunology. AAI provides its members with a variety of platforms in which to exchange ideas and present the latest immunolo ...

(AAI) from 2000 to 2001. She has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States since 1989 and a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in Great Britain since 1997. She is also the current Ida and Cecil Green professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Research at

and a distinguished professor at the

. She joined the faculties of National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1979.

Honors and awards

* 1990 – Feodor Lynen Medal for Special Achievement and Distinguished Service * 1990 – Royal Society Wellcome Foundation Prize * 1991 – Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

*1991 – William B. Coley Award * 1992 – The Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award (MD Anderson Cancer Center) * 1993 – Cancer Research Institute

William B. Coley Award The William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology is presented annually by the Cancer Research Institute, to scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of basic and tumor immunology and whose w ...

* 1993 –

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for investigations in medicine. It carries a prize money of 120,000 Euro. The prize awarding ceremony is traditionally held on March 14, the birthday of N ...

* 1994 –

Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemist ...

(

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

) *1995 – Behring-Heidelberger Lecture Award *1995 –

FASEB Excellence in Science Award The Excellence in Science Award was established by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in 1989 to recognize outstanding achievement by women in biological science. All women who are members of one or more of the so ...

*1995 – The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (Columbia University) *1996 – Dickson Prize in Medicine (University of Pittsburgh) *1996 – Honorary Doctorate of Sciences, Macalester College *1998 – The Rabbi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize *1999 – Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Award *1999 – Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize (University of Chicago) *2000 – Lifetime Achievement Award, American Association of Immunologists *2001 – Irvington Institute Scientific Leadership Award in Immunology *2002 – Member, The Academy of Medical Sciences * 2003 –

American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award The American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). It has been awarded annually to a single AAI member since 1994. Winners Source: See also * Li ...

*2003 – Faculty Ambassador Award, National Jewish Health *2004 – Bonfils Stanton Award for Science * 2004 – L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award *2004 – National Jewish Health Abraham J. Kauvar Presidential Award *2004 – University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, Mentoring Award *2005 –

Pearl Meister Greengard Prize The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize is an award for women scientists in biology given annually by the Rockefeller University. The Prize was founded by Nobel laureate Paul Greengard and his wife Ursula von Rydingsvard in honor of Greengard's moth ...

*2006 – *2008 – Elected member,

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

* 2010 – Inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted. History There was a short-lived recogniti ...

* 2015 –

Wolf Prize in Medicine The Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The ...

* 2015 – Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame *2016 –

Novartis Prize for Basic Immunology The Novartis Prizes for Immunology were established in 1990 by Sandoz to honour outstanding research in immunology, and expanded to their current form in 1992. Prizes for basic and clinical immunology are awarded every 3 years. A special prize was ...

*2019 –

Clarivate Citation Laureate Clarivate Citation Laureates formerly Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates is a list of candidates considered likely to win the Nobel Prize in their respective field. The candidates are so named based on the citation impact of their published resear ...

References

External links

KM lab website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marrack, Philippa 1945 births L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates 21st-century American women scientists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Ewell Howard Hughes Medical Investigators British immunologists American immunologists Women immunologists British women biologists Living people Female Fellows of the Royal Society English expatriates in the United States Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge University of San Diego alumni University of Rochester faculty University of Colorado Denver faculty University of Denver faculty Fellows of the Royal Society American women academics Members of the National Academy of Medicine