Niels Kaj Jerne

Danish immunologist

AI overview

Niels Kaj Jerne was a Danish immunologist who made important contributions to understanding how the immune system works. His research and theories helped explain how the body recognizes and fights off diseases, earning him recognition as a major figure in immunology.

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Person · Open Library

Works: 5

Top works

Portrait of the Immune System Scientific Publications of Niels Kaj Jerne
The Immune system
25 years, Basel Institute for Immunology
A portrait of the immune system
A study of avidity based on rabbit skin responses to diphtheria toxin-antitoxin mixtures

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Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

NIA‐AA Research Framework: Toward a biological definition of Alzheimer's disease
· 2018 · cited 9,283x
2018 ESC/ESH Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension
· 2018 · cited 8,155x
Brain–computer interfaces for communication and control
· 2002 · cited 6,303x
Comparison of the Ligand Binding Specificity and Transcript Tissue Distribution of Estrogen Receptors α and β
· 1997 · cited 6,264x

Article

Niels Kaj Jerne, FRS (23 December 1911 – 7 October 1994) was a Danish immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein "for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies".

Jerne is known for three significant ideas. Firstly, instead of the body producing antibodies in response to an antigen, Jerne postulated that the immune system already has the specific antibodies it needs to fight antigens. Secondly, it was known that the immune system learns to be tolerant to the individual's own self. Jerne postulated that this learning takes place in the thymus. Thirdly, it was known that T cells and B cells communicate with each other.