Michael Sela (Mieczysław Salomonowicz; 2 March 1924 – 27 May 2022) was an Israeli immunologist of Polish Jewish origin. He was the W. Garfield Weston Professor of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. He was a president of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Early life and academic career

Michael Sela was born as Mieczysław Salomonowicz in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on 2 March 1924. In 1935 when he was 11 years old he and his family moved to Romania. In 1941 when he was 17 years old he and his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (M.Sc., Chemistry, 1946; Ph.D., 1954). Sela was professor in the Weizmann Institute's Immunology Department. He was also a president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, from 1975 to 1985. He died in Rehovot on 27 May 2022 at the age of 98.

Research

Sela is known for his research in immunology, particularly for research on synthetic antigens, molecules that trigger the immune system to attack. This work of Sela has led to the discovery of the genetic control of the immune response, as well as to the design of vaccines based on synthetic molecules. He was among the first who introduced the use of linear and branched synthetic polypeptides as antigens, and this brought about a better understanding of immunological phenomena. For several decades, Sela was interested in the possibility of fighting the autoimmune disease, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis with synthetic analogs of the molecules in the myelin sheath of the brain which are capable of provoking the disease. He is probably best known as the co-developer (with Ruth Arnon and Dvora Teitelbaum) of the multiple sclerosis drug copaxone.

Awards and honours

Sela received numerous major national and international awards: