On October 6, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be awarded to scientists Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries in peripheral immune tolerance.

Alfred Nobel himself was interested in experimental physiology and wanted to create prizes for those who made new advances through scientific discoveries in the laboratory. According to Nobel’s will, the Karolinska Institute, a medical school and research center in Sweden, is responsible for selecting the winners of the Physiology or Medicine Prize.

For over a century, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine have tirelessly explored research areas covering physiology, genetics, biochemistry, metabolism, and immunology, advancing world medicine and benefiting human society.

In 1901, the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to German physiologist Emil Adolf von Behring. His discovery of serum therapy laid the foundation for advances in diphtheria and tetanus vaccines and was praised as “giving doctors a powerful weapon against disease and death.”

File photo: Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine Tu Youyou receiving her award.

Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. The discovery of artemisinin provided the world with a completely new antimalarial drug. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery.

In 1932, Canadian biologist Frederick Bunting, only 32 years old at the time, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of insulin with his collaborator John Macleod, bringing hope to diabetes patients.

Time Is No Barrier to Winning

Throughout the century-long history of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the value of many discoveries or inventions often requires time to become apparent. Some prizes have been awarded many years after the initial discovery or invention.

American cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock discovered gene transposition as early as 1944 but didn’t receive the Nobel Prize for this work until 1983. American virologist Peyton Rous discovered the relationship between tumor viruses and cancer in chickens in 1916, but this discovery wasn’t recognized with a Nobel Prize until 50 years later in 1966.

Nobel laureate Carol Greider also received her prize more than 20 years after her research was published. She noted that the passage of time can be beneficial for medical science, as the significance of an invention or discovery may take many years to become apparent.

In 2011, Canadian immunologist Ralph Steinman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. However, the Nobel Committee was unaware that he had passed away three days before the announcement. The committee subsequently decided to uphold the principle of integrity and awarded him the prize posthumously.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine medal depicts the Genius of Medicine holding an open book and collecting water from a rock to quench the thirst of a sick girl. The medal bears a Latin inscription that roughly translates to: “New discoveries enhance life.”

For over a century, every Nobel Prize-winning achievement in Physiology or Medicine has made outstanding contributions to human health and life.

File photo: The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to American immunologist James Allison and Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.

Recent Nobel Laureates and Their Achievements

2024

American scientists Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

2023

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Karolinska Institute

The Karolinska Institute is a world-renowned medical university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded in 1810. It is best known for its role in awarding the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The institute has a long history of advancing medical research and education.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is an annual international award established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. It is presented by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden to individuals who have made seminal discoveries in the fields of life sciences and medicine. Since its inception in 1901, the prize has honored groundbreaking achievements, such as the discovery of penicillin and the structure of DNA, which have profoundly advanced human health.

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor, most famous for inventing dynamite and for establishing the Nobel Prizes. The cultural sites associated with him include the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, which showcases the history of the prizes and their laureates. The prizes themselves were created by his will and have been awarded since 1901 for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.

Emil Adolf von Behring

Emil Adolf von Behring was a German physiologist, not a place or cultural site, who made groundbreaking contributions to medicine. He was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for his work on serum therapy, particularly for developing a diphtheria antitoxin. His research laid the foundation for immunology and significantly advanced the field of infectious disease treatment.

Tu Youyou

Tu Youyou is not a place or cultural site, but a renowned Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and Nobel laureate. She is celebrated for her discovery of artemisinin, a groundbreaking anti-malaria drug derived from traditional Chinese medicine, which has saved millions of lives globally. Her work, conducted in the late 20th century, represents a significant integration of ancient herbal knowledge with modern scientific research.

Frederick Bunting

I am unable to provide a summary, as Frederick Banting is not a place or cultural site but a person. Sir Frederick Banting was a Canadian medical scientist and physician who co-discovered insulin in 1921, a breakthrough that transformed the treatment of diabetes and earned him a Nobel Prize.

Barbara McClintock

Barbara McClintock was a pioneering American scientist and cytogeneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She is best known for her discovery of genetic transposition, or “jumping genes,” through her decades of research on maize (corn) chromosomes at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Her work fundamentally changed our understanding of genetics and inheritance.

Peyton Rous

Peyton Rous is not a place or cultural site, but a person—the American pathologist Francis Peyton Rous. He is historically significant for his 1911 discovery that a virus could cause cancer in chickens, a breakthrough that laid the foundation for understanding viruses’ role in cancer and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1966.