Researcher

Peter C. Doherty

Profile

Peter Charles Doherty is an Australian immunologist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Rolf Zinkernagel for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells. Working at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra in the early 1970s, Doherty and Zinkernagel demonstrated that cytotoxic T lymphocytes recognize infected cells only when viral peptides are presented in the context of self major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules — a principle now called MHC restriction. This insight revealed the molecular basis of cellular immunity: T cells see fragments of viral proteins bound to host MHC molecules, not free antigens. This understanding is foundational to vaccine design, organ transplantation immunology, tumor immunology, and the development of T cell-based cancer therapies. Doherty is also widely known as a public health communicator, particularly on influenza pandemic preparedness.

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