Gustav Joseph Victor Nossal
Nossal, Gustav Joseph Victor (1931-), an Austrian-born Australian immunologist, did pioneering research on the role of antibodies in defending the body against disease and helped build the foundations of modern immunology.
Nossal's family emigrated from Austria to Australia in 1939, shortly after the Nazis announced the political union of Austria and Germany. After medical studies at the University of Sydney, he completed a residency at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney (1955–1956). Except for two years as assistant professor of genetics at Stanford University (1959–1961), and a year each at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and as a special consultant to the World Health Organization, Nossal's research career has been at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne. Nossal, who earned his doctorate degree at the University of Melbourne (1960), went on to serve as director of WEHI (1965–1996), while concurrently serving as professor of medical biology at the university.
Nossal is best known as the discoverer of the so-called “one cell-one antibody” rule, which states that each B lymphocyte, developed in bone marrow, secretes a specific antibody in response to an encounter with a specific foreign antigen. He summarized his discoveries in fundamental immunology and related fields in over 500 scientific articles and five books, including Antibodies and Immunity (1968), Antigens, Lymphoid Cells and the Immune Response (1971), Medical Science and Human Goals (1975), Nature's Defences (1978), and Reshaping Life: Key Issues in Genetic Engineering (1984).
Knighted in 1977, Nossal has been president of the International Union of Immunological Societies (1986–1989), and of the Australian Academy of Science (1994–1998). In 1993, Nossal became chair of the committee overseeing the World Health Organization's Global Program for Vaccines and Immunization. He is also on the strategic advisory council of the Bill & Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Program.