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Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916): celebrating 100 years of cellular immunology and beyond

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 16, pages 651–656 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The year 2016 marks 100 years since the death of Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916), the Russian zoologist who pioneered the study of cellular immunology and who is widely credited with the discovery of phagocytosis, for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908. However, his long scientific career spanned many disciplines and has had far-reaching effects on modern immunology beyond the study of phagocytosis. In this Viewpoint article, five leading immunologists from the fields of phagocytosis, macrophage biology, leukocyte migration, the microbiota and intravital imaging tell Nature Reviews Immunology how Metchnikoff's work has influenced past, present and future research in their respective fields.

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Acknowledgements

The work of B.A.I. was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation Grant 310030_153456.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. David M. Underhill is at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90048, USA.,

    David M. Underhill

  2. Siamon Gordon is at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,

    Siamon Gordon

  3. Beat A. Imhof is at the Department of Pathology and Immunology, University of Geneva, CMU, rue Michel Servet 1, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland.,

    Beat A. Imhof

  4. Gabriel Núñez is at the Department of Pathology and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.,

    Gabriel Núñez

  5. Philippe Bousso is at the Institut Pasteur, Dynamics of Immune Responses Unit, 75015 Paris, France, and INSERM U1223, Rue du Dr Roux, 75015 Paris, France.,

    Philippe Bousso

Authors
  1. David M. Underhill
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  2. Siamon Gordon
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  3. Beat A. Imhof
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  4. Gabriel Núñez
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  5. Philippe Bousso
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to David M. Underhill, Siamon Gordon, Beat A. Imhof, Gabriel Núñez or Philippe Bousso.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Underhill, D., Gordon, S., Imhof, B. et al. Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916): celebrating 100 years of cellular immunology and beyond. Nat Rev Immunol 16, 651–656 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2016.89

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