GLASGOW, Scotland, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The German Society for Immunology (DGfI) has awarded its 2012 Avery-Landsteiner Prize to Alain Fischer, M.D., Ph.D., of Paris, France, for his milestone discoveries and treatment developments in the management of hereditary immunodeficiencies. The Prize was presented at the European Congress for Immunology in Glasgow, Scotland today.
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Sponsored by CSL Behring, the Avery-Landsteiner Prize can be awarded every two years to an internationally outstanding and highly distinguished immunologist. The Avery Landsteiner Award carries a monetary prize of 10,000.
“The Avery-Landsteiner Prize is the most prestigious scientific award conferred by the German Society for Immunology,” said Dieter Kabelitz, President of the DGfI. “Dr. Fischer is in the hall of fame of a distinguished group of Award winners within the international medical community. It is with great pride that we donate the 2012 Prize to Dr. Fischer for his important professional contributions in the area of genetic descriptions of immunodeficiencies. He was the first to initiate genetic therapy of a rare and serious immunodeficiency disease, namely the gc gene defect in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (gc SCID). Dr. Fischer has contributed immeasurably to advancing the world’s understanding of medicine.”
Since 1991, Alain Fischer has directed the INSERM research unit for “Normal and pathological development of the immune system” and, since 1996, the Clinical Unit of Pediatric Immunology and Hematology at the Necker Hospital in Paris, France.
About the Avery-Landsteiner Prize
The Avery-Landsteiner Prize is named after two scientists who made important contributions to today’s understanding of immunology. Oswald Avery, M.D., one of the world’s first molecular biologists and a pioneer in immunochemistry, discovered DNA as the substance of genes and chromosomes; Karl Landsteiner, M.D., who received both The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930, and a Lasker Award in 1946, characterized the ABO-blood group antigen system. He is known as the ‘father of transfusion medicine.’
The Avery-Landsteiner Prize has been donated by CSL Behring and its predecessors since 1973. CSL Behring has significant operations in Marburg, Germany (the plant founded by Emil von Behring), in Bern, Switzerland, and Kankakee, USA. Its headquarters are located in King of Prussia, USA.
About CSL Behring
CSL Behring is a leader in the plasma protein therapeutics industry. Committed to saving lives and improving the quality of life for people with rare and serious diseases, the company manufactures and markets a range of plasma-derived and recombinant therapies worldwide. CSL Behring therapies are indicated for the treatment of coagulation disorders including hemophilia and von Willebrand disease, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema and inherited respiratory disease. The company’s products are also used in cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic diseases in newborns. CSL Behring operates one of the world’s largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. CSL Behring is a subsidiary of CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. For more information, visit www.cslbehring.com.
About the German Society for Immunology (DGfI)
The DGfI, founded in 1967, has more than 2,300 members who are active in basic or clinical immunology. A major goal of the DGfI is to offer a structured educational program in immunology. The Academy for Immunology comprises three courses (Autumn School, Spring School, Translational School) providing different levels of education. The scientific activities of the DGfI are organized into 14 working groups spanning all major areas of current immunology. In addition to holding meetings of the individual working groups, the DGfI conducts annual meetings, frequently as joint meetings together with a neighbouring European society. Moreover, small bilateral meetings are intended to initiate and develop joint research initiatives with non-European societies. For further information, visit http://www.dgfi.org/
CONTACT: Sheila A. Burke, Director of Communications and Public Relations, CSL Behring, +1-610-878-4209, cell +1-484-919-2618, sheila.burke@cslbehring.com
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