One of three scientists just awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine has no idea that he just won because, according to friends, he’s “living his best life” hiking “off the grid” somewhere in Idaho.
The Nobel committee has so far failed to contact Fred Ramsdell, whose work on the immune system helped revolutionize treatments for autoimmune diseases. His colleague and friend Jeffrey Bluestone, co-founder of Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, confirmed he’s also been unable to reach him.
“I have been trying to get a hold of him myself. I think he may be backpacking in the backcountry in Idaho,” Bluestone told AFP.
Ramsdell shares the award with Mary Brunkow of Seattle and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi, whose pioneering research identified the immune system’s regulatory T-cells. Their discoveries formed the basis for a new field in immunology, opening the door to potential therapies now in clinical trials.
Brunkow, too, proved elusive at first, as the committee struggled to reach both U.S.-based winners, nine hours behind Stockholm.
“I asked them to, if they have a chance, call me back,” said Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel committee, describing the scramble to notify laureates before the news went public.
Sakaguchi first uncovered the regulatory T-cell in 1995. Ramsdell and Brunkow later built on his work, identifying the key genetic mechanisms behind immune tolerance.
It’s not the first time the Nobel committee has had difficulty tracking down its honorees. In 2020, economics winner Bob Wilson famously unplugged his phone in the middle of the night and missed the call.
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