Nobel Laureate wows crowd with immunology and humour

Sunway University recently welcomed Professor Peter C. Doherty, AC, FAA, FRS to join its list of distinguished speakers for the Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Speakers Series (TSJCDSS). Professor Doherty who won the 1996 Nobel Prize together with Rolf Zinkernagel in Physiology and Medicine for their work on immunity to viruses, presented a short talk titled “The Killer Defense.” The talk elucidated on a short history on the discovery of erythrocytes (red blood cells), white corpuscles and the role of the macrophages and lymphocytes to what we presently know.

Nobel Laureate Professor Peter C. Doherty sharing a video on Cytotoxic Tlymphocyte (CTL Effectors) during the Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Speakers Series.

 Professor Doherty began the talk on the subject of immunity, “You all have a concept of immunity in your head. The word immune comes from the Latin term immunus which means ‘without tax’. The tax that the immune system seeks to deal with is the tax of infection and this is where it has evolved. We are large complex organisms, we have different organs and we are walking ecosystems. On the surface of our skin, nose, throat and various other openings, there are all sorts of bacteria and viruses that live within us. It is our immune system that keeps it under control.”

Professor Doherty expressed that the immune system has been in place for many years and that every living creature, such as fish and birds are made up of different immune systems but subjectively function to do the same things.

The history of red blood cells was first apparent when Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century first observed them under the microscope. He could actually see the red blood cells flowing and when he saw skin cells and he realized that the body is made up of cells. He did not however see the white blood cells, which was first noticed by Richard Virchow. The whole field moved forward when Paul Ehrlich used vital dyes to stain white blood cells that grew to show the human body is made up of different white blood cells.

Nobel Laureate Professor Peter C. Doherty addressing a packed hall.

Eli Metchnikoff studying the macrophage, made a discovery after experimenting on the larvae of starfish that led to the discovery of phagocytosis. “That was when we started to understand that in our body, we have these cells that eat other cells. But it was not until the 1960’s that the experiments of Jim Gowans, Bill Ford, Av Mitchison and others who told us that the lymphocytes that are so prominent in blood, are immune cells that recirculate from lymph node, to blood, to tissue to lymph and back to the nodes. Following that, Jacques Miller identified the key role of the thymus, and we realised that there are separate lineages of T and B lymphocytes,” explained Professor Doherty.

He further identified the killer T cells as the ‘hitman’ of the immune system. “What it basically does is that it finds the cells that are damaged by cancer or viruses that cannot replicate of themselves, and uses the machinery of the cells as a factory. In order to bring that infection to an end, it grabs the virus with an antibody and destroys the infection.”

Professor Doherty went on to explain how he and Rolf Zinkernagel won the Nobel Prize and how life has changed since. Many questions were addressed to him at the end of the talk to which he gladly answered.

Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah presenting a token of appreciation to Nobel Laureate Professor Peter C. Doherty at the end of his lecture.

The TSJCDSS is a way that Sunway University gives back to the community and public by encouraging lifelong learning and intellectual empowerment. Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, the founder and chairman of the Sunway Group of Companies in Malaysia is passionate about education and seeks various methods to empower the community through education. Through the TSJCDSS, the public is presented with an opportunity to listen to a series of expert speakers presenting on a vast array of topics. Sunway University has also conducted many socially responsible activities in the past and is on a mission to contribute to society through education.