A US-Japanese trio on Monday won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for research into how the immune system is kept in check by identifying its “security guards”, the Nobel jury said.

The discoveries by Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi have been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases.

Sakaguchi, a professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Centre in Osaka, told Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio: “It’s an honour for me. I’m looking forward to visiting Stockholm in December” to receive the award in person.

The Nobel committee was however unable to reach the two US-based laureates to break the news to them in person.

“If you hear this, call me,” the head of the Nobel Assembly, Thomas Perlmann, joked at the press conference announcing the winners.

The three won the prize for research that identified the immune system’s “security guards”, called regulatory T-cells.

Their work concerns “peripheral immune tolerance” that prevents the immune system from harming the body, and has led to a new field of research and the development of potential medical treatments now being evaluated in clinical trials.

“The hope is to be able to treat or cure autoimmune diseases, provide more effective cancer treatments and prevent serious complications after stem cell transplants,” the jury said.

Protecting the body

Sakaguchi made the first key discovery in 1995.

At the time, many researchers were convinced that immune tolerance only developed due to potentially harmful immune cells being eliminated in the thymus, through a process called “central tolerance”.

Sakaguchi, 74, showed that the immune system is more complex and discovered a previously unknown class of immune cells, which protect the body from autoimmune diseases.

Brunkow, born in 1961 and a senior project manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Ramsdell, a 64-year-old senior advisor at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, made the other key discovery in 2001, when they were able to explain why certain mice were particularly vulnerable to autoimmune diseases.

“They had discovered that mice have a mutation in a gene that they named Foxp3,” the jury said.

“They also showed that mutations in the human equivalent of this gene cause a serious autoimmune disease, IPEX.”

Two years later, Sakaguchi was able to link these discoveries.

The trio will receive their prize—a diploma, a gold medal and $1.2 million split three ways— at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

Researchers from major US institutions typically dominate the Nobel science prizes, due largely to the US’ longstanding investment in basic science and academic freedoms.

But that could change down the line following massive US budget cuts to science programmes announced by President Donald Trump.

Since January, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated 2,100 research grants totalling around $9.5 billion and $2.6 billion in contracts, according to an independent database called Grant Watch.

Trump eyeing Peace Prize

Thomas Perlmann, secretary general of the committee that awards the Nobel Prize for Medicine, told AFP it was “no coincidence that the US has by far the most Nobel laureates”.

“But there is now a creeping sense of uncertainty about the US’ willingness to maintain their leading position in research,” he said.

Trump has meanwhile made no secret of the fact that he wants to win a Nobel himself— the Peace Prize.

Nobel experts have however said his “America First” policies and divisive style give him little chance.

“It’s completely unthinkable,” Oeivind Stenersen, a historian who has conducted research and co-written a book on the prize, told AFP.

“(Trump) is in many ways the opposite of the ideals that the Nobel Prize represents,” he said, citing “multilateral cooperation” as an example.

Trump “follows his own path, unilaterally,” Stenersen added.

Sudan’s networks of volunteers Emergency Response Rooms (ERR) helping people survive war and famine— are seen as a possible contender this year, as are media watchdogs the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

• Denmark ambassador introduces resolution on behalf of the EU.
• Probe to prepare files to facilitate independent criminal proceedings.
• Draft resolution ‘deplores Taliban’ over exclusion of women and girls.
  

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council on Monday decided to launch a probe into serious rights violations in Afghanistan, amid growing alarm over the Taliban´s measures targeting women and girls.

The United Nations’ top rights body decided to set up an investigation to gather and preserve evidence of international crimes.

A draft resolution brought forward by the European Union was adopted without a vote by the 47-country council in Geneva.

“Four years since the Taliban takeover by force, the human rights situation has only deteriorated amidst a deepening humanitarian crisis,” said Denmark’s ambassador Ib Petersen, introducing the resolution on behalf of the EU.

The Taliban has “entrenched repression” and laid waste to civic space in Afghanistan, he said.

“This council has a duty to react and stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan,” said Petersen, stressing that the probe would address long-standing impunity.

The resolution sets up an ongoing independent investigation “to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of international crimes and the most serious violations of international law”.

Its scope notably includes violations and abuses against women and girls.

It will also prepare files to facilitate independent criminal proceedings.

“The mechanism will be able to preserve testimonies and stories of victims,” an EU spokesperson told AFP.

‘Segregation, domination, disrespect’

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 and has since imposed strict laws.

The Taliban government remains largely excluded from the international community, which criticises it for its repressive measures, particularly those targeting women.

Afghan women can no longer practise many professions or travel without a male chaperone, and are banned from studying after the age of 12, walking in parks, or going to gyms.

The resolution “deplores the Taliban’s institutionalisation of its system of discrimination, segregation, domination, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls”.

Colombia’s ambassador Gustavo Gallon said Afghan women and girls were facing institutionalised repression “which simply aims to delete them from public life”.

“All of the Afghan population are suffering in a climate of hunger, displacement and repression,” its representative said.

While it did not call for a vote, council member China disassociated itself from the consensus, saying the resolution “fails to acknowledge the positive progress achieved” in Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan has taken various measures for stability, economic growth and improvement of people’s livelihood,” the Chinese representative insisted.

Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher for the NGO Human Rights Watch, told AFP that the investigation “puts the Taliban and all others responsible for past and ongoing serious crimes in Afghanistan on notice that evidence is being collected and prepared so they may someday face justice”.

US President Donald Trump announced that a previously planned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event at the White House will take place on June 14 next year, coinciding with his 80th birthday.

He made the announcement during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in honor of the US Navy’s upcoming 250th anniversary.

Trump had initially revealed in July that a UFC event would be held at the White House in 2026 but did not specify a date at the time.

The president counts UFC President Dana White as a close friend and has long considered fans of the sport part of his political base, with ties that predate his presidency.

This week, Dana White told the Sports Business Journal that the UFC will spend $700,000 to replace the South Lawn grass at the White House following the event.

Since becoming president, Trump has been a regular attendee at UFC fights, most recently attending one in New Jersey in June.

But the relationship between Trump and White goes back to 2000, when the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was one of the few US venues willing to host UFC events at the time.

TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.