Matzinger, Polly (1947–)

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Matzinger, Polly (1947–)

American immunologist. Born July 21, 1947; dau. of a Dutch resistance fighter and a former nun; studied science at University of California, Davis; University of California, San Diego, PhD.

Joined (1989) and heads laboratory at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD; partnered with neighboring laboratory colleague Ephraim Fuchs to test new "danger theory" (described first in 1994) that immune system reacts to danger, not to "foreignness" (1989); searched for methods to stop immune system attacks on grafted tissues without debilitating entire bodily systems.