Three GM/CA users have been awarded the inaugural prize for their outstanding research contributions to the field of immunology

Emory University has announced the first recipients of the University’s Max Cooper Prize in Immunology, which honors recipients for their outstanding research contributions to the field of immunology at the fundamental and translational level. 

Structural biologists Pamela J. Bjorkman of California Institute of Technology, K. Christopher Garcia of Stanford University, and Ian A. Wilson of Scripps Research Institute have been honored with the award. Together, their research has resulted in new insights into the structure of the immune system. 

The award is named for Max D. Cooper, a renowned immunologist at Emory, whose discoveries fundamentally changed science’s understanding of the adaptive immune system with implications for treatment of human disease. 

The three recipients are users at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Cancer Institute Structural Biology Facility (GM/CA) at the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The facility focuses on structural biology with synchrotron beamlines specializing in intense, tunable micro-beams for crystallography.