Astrid Elsa Fagraeus-Wallbom, born May 30, 1913, in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and died February 24, 1997, was a Swedish immunologist.

Education and career

Fagraeus received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in medicine in 1948 from the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

. In 1949, she was appointed associate professor of bacteriology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. She became head of the virology department at the Swedish Bacteriological Laboratory in 1953. In 1961–1979 she served as the first professor of immunology in Sweden, at Karolinska Institutet.

Scientific work

Fagraeus' doctoral dissertation, Antibody Production in relation to the Development of Plasma Cells''', attracted international attention and was considered a milestone in modern immunology. In this work, she was the first to show that plasma cells produce

antibodies An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that caus ...

( IgG). Until then, their function was unknown. During her career, she published around 80 scientific publications, and she was particularly focused on the development and maturation of

T lymphocytes T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell (leukoc ...

in the thymus. Among Fagraeus' later contributions was her role in the development of a Swedish polio vaccine, together with Professor Sven Gard.

Awards and honors

The work in her PhD dissertation led to the Swedish Medical Society's 'Jubilee Prize' in 1950. The American Association of Immunologists appointed Astrid Fagraeus an honorary member in 1973. A research building at Karolinska Institutet is named after Astrid Fagraeus.

Personal life

Fagraeus was the daughter of Consul General Isidor Fagraeus and Elsa Bäckström. She married in 1955 the director Sven Wallbom and had the children Kerstin (born 1955) and Ann (born 1956). She is buried at Norra cemetery in Solna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagraeus, Astrid Swedish scientists Swedish immunologists Swedish women scientists 1913 births 1997 deaths Scientists from Stockholm Karolinska Institute alumni