Jules A. Hoffmann Ph.D.

Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS and University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg

"for ground breaking discoveries and definition of the family of Toll like receptors and the array of microbial compounds that they recognize to provide innate resistance to infection"

2011 Canada Gairdner International Award Recipient

J. Hoffmann was born in Luxembourg, where he received his primary and secondary education until he moved to Strasbourg University to study Zoology, General Biology and Chemistry, where he received his Ph.D. in Natural Science (1963) under the supervision of Profs. P. Joly and A. Porte. After a postdoctoral year (1973-1974) at Marburg University where he worked with Profs. P. Karlson and J. Koolman, J. Hoffmann returned to Strasbourg. In 1978, upon retirement of Prof. P. Joly J.Hoffmann became director of the Laboratoire de Biologie Générale de l'Université Louis Pasteur.

In 1994, Dr. Hoffmann was appointed director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg of the French National Research Agency CNRS. This institute, to which J. Hoffmann and his group moved from their previous location, the Institute of Zoology and General Biology, is located on the central campus of the University of Strasbourg
(Université Louis Pasteur). Among the many prizes Hoffmann received, is the "Robert Koch Prize in Immunology". He has served on numerous French and International Committees, and is a Member of several Academies. He was elected in 2007 President of the French Academy of Sciences, and now works part-time in Paris. He is also a member of the Board of Administration of the French Research Agency CNRS.

Main Line of Research
Dr. Hoffmann started his studies working on the origins and roles of blood cells in the grasshopper Locusta migratoria under the supervision of Profs. P. Joly and A. Porte at the Strasbourg University. After his postdoc he started biochemical studies on insect hormones, particularly on the steroid hormone ecdysone. As Director of the laboratory, the interest of his group gradually moved to insect immunity. Since that period, the studies of J. Hoffmann and his numerous coworkers, focused primarily on the molecular and cellular aspects of the innate
immune response of Drosophila, with a recent extension to the malaria vector insect Anopheles. Hoffmann and colleagues are in particular credited for having provided the first evidence that Toll receptors mediate and immune defense (1996).