Jan T. Vilček (born June 17, 1933) is a biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. He is a professor in the department of microbiology at the

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island Schoo ...

, and chairman and CEO of

The Vilcek Foundation The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions to the United States, and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation's flagship programs include the Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which recognize and support immigra ...

. Vilček, a native of

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, (then part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) received his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

degree from

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

Medical School,

in 1957; and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Virology Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, th ...

from the Institute of Virology,

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences ( Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Scienc ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1962. In 1964, Vilček, with his wife Marica, defected from Communist

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

during a three-day visit to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1965, the Vilčeks immigrated to the United States, and have since lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Vilček devoted his scientific career to studies of soluble mediators that regulate the immune system ( cytokines), including

interferon Interferons (IFNs, ) are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten t ...

and

tumor necrosis factor Tumor necrosis factor (TNF, cachexin, or cachectin; formerly known as tumor necrosis factor alpha or TNF-α) is an adipokine and a cytokine. TNF is a member of the TNF superfamily, which consists of various transmembrane proteins with a homologo ...

(TNF).

Early years

Vilček was born in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, to a middle class secular Jewish family. His mother, Friderika Fischer, was born to a German-speaking family in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. She moved with her family to

where she finished medical school, married Jan's father, Julius Vilček, and became an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

. Jan grew up speaking three languages ( Slovak, German and Hungarian). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, his family was persecuted because of their Jewish heritage. To protect him from deportation to a concentration camp, in 1942 his parents placed Jan in an orphanage run by Catholic nuns. From mid-1944 through the end of the war in 1945, Vilček and his mother were hidden by a Slovak family in a remote village, while his father joined an uprising against the Nazis. After the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

the family was reunited and moved back to

Career and scientific contributions

Vilček became interested in research in

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

and

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...

during his medical studies. Upon completing medical school in 1957, Vilček joined the Institute of Virology,

as a research scientist. There, in 1959, he embarked on studies of

, a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

made in response to infection with

virus A virus is a wikt:submicroscopic, submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and ...

es and other

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

s. At the time,

was still a poorly defined

studied by only a handful of scientists across the world. In 1964, Vilček organized the first international conference on

that was attended by many scientists active in the field at the time. Upon emigrating to the United States in 1965, Vilček joined the faculty of

NYU School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School o ...

as an assistant professor of

. At NYU, Vilček continued research on

. He helped to develop methods for the production of human fibroblast (beta)

that enabled its clinical utilization and molecular characterization. He and his colleagues showed that human

leukocyte White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mul ...

(alpha) and beta

are antigenically distinct, laying the groundwork for the later demonstration that these

s are encoded by distinct genes that belong to the same gene family. He and his coworkers also contributed to the characterization of human immune (gamma)

. In the 1980s Vilček became interested in the study of another

cytokine Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in a ...

, termed

(TNF). His work helped to elucidate novel biological actions of TNF, led to the discovery of novel genes and proteins, and helped to identify signaling pathways. Over the span of his career, Vilček published over 350 papers in scientific journals. Vilček is an

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysi ...

highly cited researcher Clarivate Plc is a British-American publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business / market intelligence, and competitive profiling for ph ...

in the

Immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...

category. He is listed as an inventor on over 40 US

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

Contributions to drug development

In the 1970s Vilček and colleagues developed methods for the production of human interferon-beta in cultures of human diploid fibroblasts. These methods made it possible to produce natural human interferon-beta for clinical trials. Interferon-beta produced by these methods was licensed for clinical use in multiple

sclerosis Sclerosis (also sclerosus in the Latin names of a few disorders) is a hardening of tissue and other anatomical features; it may refer to: * Sclerosis (medicine), a hardening of tissue * in zoology, a process which hardens forms sclerites, a hard ...

and some other diseases in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and in Japan, but eventually the production of natural

has been replaced by more efficient methods utilizing recombinant DNA technology. In 1989 Vilček and NYU colleague, Junming Le, created a

monoclonal antibody A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies ...

against TNF-alpha, a powerful promoter of inflammation. TNF-alpha is involved in the

pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...

of numerous chronic inflammatory

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly ...

s. Collaborating with the biotechnology company

Centocor Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American c ...

, founded by Michael Wall and

Hubert Schoemaker Hubert Jacob Paul Schoemaker (March 23, 1950 – January 1, 2006) was a Dutch biotechnologist. He was a co-founder and the president of one of America's first biotechnology companies, Centocor, which was founded in 1979 for the commercialisi ...

(later acquired by

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

and recently renamed Janssen Biotech, Inc.), Vilček and Le helped to develop the biologic drug initially termed cA2, which is now known commercially as

infliximab Infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody, sold under the brand name Remicade among others, is a medication used to treat a number of autoimmune diseases. This includes Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spo ...

, or

Remicade Infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody, sold under the brand name Remicade among others, is a medication used to treat a number of autoimmune diseases. This includes Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spon ...

is a potent anti-inflammatory agent used in the treatment of

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and ...

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension, ...

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood ( hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, an ...

ankylosing spondylitis Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis characterized by long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine typically where the spine joins the pelvis. Occasionally areas affected may include other joints such as the shoulders or hi ...

psoriatic arthritis Psoriatic arthritis is a long-term inflammatory arthritis that occurs in people affected by the autoimmune disease psoriasis. The classic feature of psoriatic arthritis is swelling of entire fingers and toes with a sausage-like appearance. ...

plaque psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by raised areas of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complete b ...

and other inflammatory diseases.

was the first TNF blocking agent successfully used in patients. The success of

spurred the development and regulatory approval of several other anti-TNF agents (

TNF inhibitor A TNF inhibitor is a pharmaceutical drug that suppresses the physiologic response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which is part of the inflammatory response. TNF is involved in autoimmune and immune-mediated disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis ...

), including adalimumab-Humira, etanercept-Enbrel, golimumab-Simponi, and certolizumab pegol-Cimzia, all of which are being used to treat numerous inflammatory

s. It is estimated that close to 3 million patients have been treated with

, and more patients benefited from treatments with other anti-TNF agents.

Philanthropy

With the royalties from the sales of

, Vilček and his wife Marica established

the Vilcek Foundation The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions to the United States, and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation's flagship programs include the Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which recognize and support immigra ...

in 2000, devoted to increasing public awareness of the contribution of immigrants to professional, academic and artistic life in the United States. The foundation fulfills its mission by awarding annual Vilcek Prizes in biomedical science and the arts, sponsoring cultural programs, and hosting immigrant artists in its gallery space in

. In 2005, the Vilčeks made a donation to

valued at over 100 million dollars, for use towards basic research. The funds have been used for the establishment of several endowed professorships, renovation of laboratories, establishment of research programs and endowment of fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at NYU School of Medicine. In a separate donation announced in late 2010, the Vilčeks contributed over 21 million dollars for the renovation of a dormitory for medical students and the establishment of endowed merit scholarships for medical students. Vilček's memoir, ''Love and Science'', was published by Seven Stories Press in 2016. An audiobook version of ''Love and Science'' was released in March of 2021. The audiobook is narrated by

Daniel K. Isaac Daniel K. Isaac is an American actor and writer. He is known for his recurring role as Ben Kim in Showtime's '' Billions''. Isaac is also known for creating the hashtag #AccordingToMyMother, which he uses to share comedic conversations between him ...

. Vilček's wife, Marica Vilcek, an art historian, endowed two curatorships in the American Wing of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

. Jan Vilček is a member of the board of trustees of the

NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and ...

Awards and honors

*Nancy LaMott Award from Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, 2019 *

Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active Chapters in 132 LCME- accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new ...

Honor Medical Society, 2019 *

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born a ...

, 2018 *

Doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad h ...

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

, Czech Republic, 2018 * Living Landmarks Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy (jointly with Marica Vilcek), 2017 * Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010 ...

, 2016 * Seymour and Vivian Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine Research, 2016 * Doctor of Science, honoris causa,

Slovak Academy of Sciences The Slovak Academy of Sciences ( sk, Slovenská akadémia vied, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestab ...

, 2016 * Doctor of Science, honoris causa,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

, 2015 * Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Graduate Center,

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pr ...

, 2014 * Gold medal,

Charles University in Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

, Czech Republic, 2014 *

Hope Funds for Cancer Research Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

: Award of Excellence for Advocacy, 2014 * Doctor honoris causa,

Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

, Slovakia, 2014 * Honorary Membership, Learned Society of the Czech Republic, 2013 * Edward H. Ahrens, Jr. Award for Patient Oriented Research, Association for Clinical and Translational Science, 2013 * National Medal of Technology and Innovation, awarded by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

, 2013 * Outstanding American by Choice Award,

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizat ...

, 2012 * Stephen K Fischel Distinguished Public Service Award (jointly with Marica Vilcek in behalf of the

Vilcek Foundation The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions to the United States, and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation's flagship programs include the Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which recognize and support immigra ...

American Immigration Council The American Immigration Council is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and advocacy group. It advocates for immigrants to the United States and opposed US President Donald Trump's immigration policy. It was established in ...

, 2012 * Goodwill Ambassador Award, Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2010 * Garnet Immunoglobulin Award, Czech Immunology Society, 2008 * J. E. Purkinje Honorary Medal,

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, cs, Akademie věd České republiky, abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes bac ...

, 2008 * Honorary Alumnus,

, New York University, New York, 2006 * Michael S. Modell Humanitarian Award,

Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation (CCF) is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization dedicated to finding cures for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and improving the quality of life of children and adults affected by these digestive disease ...

(jointly with Marica Vilcek), 2005 * Albert Gallatin Medal,

, 2005 * Included in

ISI Highly Cited The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis ...

among most highly cited authors in Immunology category * Honorary Membership, International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research, 2003 * Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, International Cytokine Society, 2003 * Biotechnology Achievement Award,

, 2002 * Distinguished Alumnus Award and Medal,

, Bratislava, 2001 * Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

, 1997 * Outstanding Investigator Grant,

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. T ...

, 1991

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilcek, Jan 1933 births Scientists from Bratislava Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States American immunologists Living people Czechoslovak defectors Comenius University alumni