Australian wins Crafoord Prize for autoimmune discovery

Christopher Goodnow, Head of the Immunogenomics Laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and a professor at the UNSW Cellular Genomics Futures Institute, has been named the winner of the 2025 Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis alongside Professor David Nemazee from the US-based Scripps Research. Goodnow and Nemazee were honoured for their groundbreaking discovery of fundamental mechanisms that prevent B cells (a type of white blood cell) from attacking the body’s own tissues in autoimmune diseases.

The Crafoord Prize, established in 1980 and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, is one of the world’s most esteemed scientific awards, recognising achievements in fields not covered by the Nobel Prizes. The prize, worth 6 million Swedish kronor (approximately $870,000), rotates annually between mathematics and astronomy, geosciences, biosciences and polyarthritis. Goodnow is the third Australian to be awarded the prize.

While researchers have long tried to discover the cause of autoimmune diseases, whereby the immune system starts attacking tissues in the body, Goodnow and Nemazee — working independently of each other — adopted a new approach. They asked why we do not all develop these diseases, with a focus on B cells.

Having trained as a molecular biologist, Goodnow did most of his PhD work at The University of Sydney from 1986–1989. There, he joined Professors Antony Basten and Ron Trent, as well as Dr Kathryn Raphael at CSIRO, to reveal the first immune tolerance ‘checkpoint’ that actively stops B cells from making antibodies against our own body.

Goodnow subsequently led teams at Stanford University, The Australian National University, Garvan and UNSW to reveal a series of checkpoints, how these checkpoints work, and how they break down in people with autoimmune diseases. They showed the checkpoints ‘test’ B cells during their development, providing a safeguard against B cells that could cause autoimmune attacks while allowing the immune system to respond to microbial threats. Tolerance checkpoints have become central to other areas of medicine, including cancer treatments that use ‘checkpoint inhibitors’ to unleash the immune system against tumours.

Thanks to Goodnow and Nemazee, we have gained fundamental knowledge about what is happening in the immune system in autoimmune disease, which may lead to completely new therapies and perhaps even cures. The practical implications of their work are already evident in clinical settings, where physicians are successfully using B cell-targeting treatments for severe autoimmune conditions including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

“They have given us a new and detailed understanding of the mechanisms that normally prevent faulty B cells from attacking tissues in the body, explaining why most of us are not affected by autoimmune diseases,” said Olle Kämpe, chair of the prize committee.

“I’m honoured and very happy that the Academy gives this recognition to basic science, providing the foundations for understanding and treating disease,” Goodnow said. “It’s also wonderful to share the prize with David Nemazee. We were friendly competitors working at different places in the world, and the two of us arrived at complementary answers at a time when most working in the field didn’t believe B cell tolerance was a thing.”

The 2025 Crafoord Prize will be formally awarded in conjunction with Crafoord Days in Lund and Stockholm from 5–8 May. It will be presented to the laureates by HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Image caption: Professor Christopher Goodnow has been awarded the 2025 Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis. Image credit: Peter Secheny Photography.