Lasker Award winners reflect research and progress in immunology

This year’s Lasker Award winners were just announced, and three groups are being recognized for their work in basic and clinical immunology, as well as for public service in the field. Each category comes with a $250,000 prize. Here’s more: 

• Albert Lasker basic medical research award: Dr. Max Cooper, of Emory University, and Jacques Miller, of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia, for their discovery of B cells and T cells as two distinct lymphocytes. 
• Lasker-DeBakey clinical medical research award: H. Michael Shepard, formerly of Genentech, Dr. Dennis Slamon, from UCLA, and Axel Ullrich, of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, for developing the anti-cancer antibody sold as Herceptin. 
• Lasker-Bloomberg Public service award: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for its work providing lifesaving childhood vaccines around the world.