Frédéric Triebel (born 20 November 1954) is a French
immunologist who is best known for his 1990 discovery of the
LAG3 immune control mechanism. Triebel worked through the 1990s in a collaboration between
Institut Gustave Roussy
Gustave Roussy is the first leader cancer-research hospital in Europe and ranked among the top 3 best specialized hospitals in the world . It is a centre for high quality patient care, research and teaching. It is highly-known for the treatment of ...
and
Merck Serono
Merck Serono (EMD Serono in the United States and Canada) is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and a brand and division of Merck focused on biopharmaceuticals.
In September 2006, Merck KGaA announced its intent to ...
to establish LAG-3's mechanism of action in
T cells
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 ...
and
dendritic cells
Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells (also known as ''accessory cells'') of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. ...
. In 2001 he founded Immutep SA, a biotech company, to develop the therapeutic potential of LAG3. In 2014 this company was acquired by
Prima BioMed, where Triebel remains Chief Scientific and Medical Officer.
Early life and education
He completed his Doctor of Medicine degree at
Poitiers University in 1981 and then a four-year clinical
hematology
Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the pro ...
fellowship in Paris hospitals. In 1983, Frédéric Triebel received the Gold Medal of the Paris Medicine University. In parallel, Triebel gained a PhD in
Immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...
at the