5:00 pm
Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, Room 1103 University of Chicago
900 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Understanding Immunity: From Antiquity to Now
5 PM, Thursday, September 24, 2026
Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery (KCBD), Room 1103
Arup K. Chakraborty, John M. Deutch Institute Professor
Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Infectious diseases have plagued humanity since time immemorial. Our ancestors noted that those who had recovered from the plague or smallpox could safely serve as caregivers for the sick. Such people were referred to as immune, from the Latin word "immunis", which means "exempt". The quest to understand why people become immune upon recovery from disease has historically defined the field of immunology, and parts of microbiology.
Chakraborty will trace the development of our understanding of the immune system through the ages, from ancient ideas that invoked the supernatural to now, when new knowledge is being generated by research at a convergence of physics, computation, and biology. We are beginning to understand that a systemic immune response is an emergent property, and that the immune system is a living machine that learns, acts, and remembers to help protect us from disease.
We are also learning how the immune system interacts with other physiological systems to maintain health, and how its aberrant regulation leads to disease. Chakraborty will interleave the discussion with references to how basic knowledge generated through the ages has been harnessed to cure and prevent disease.
Arup K. Chakraborty is one of the 12 Institute Professors at MIT, the highest rank of a MIT faculty member, which is awarded jointly by the faculty and administration. He holds the John M. Deutch Institute Professorship. He is also a Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry at MIT. He served as the founding Director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and he is a founding member of the Ragon Institute of MGB, MIT and Harvard. For over 26 years, Chakraborty’s work has largely focused on bringing together approaches from statistical physics, computation, immunology, and virology to understand how the immune system functions. This fundamental knowledge can be harnessed to advance health. His interests span T cell signaling, development of the T cell repertoire, a mechanistic understanding of antibody responses and learning in the immune system, the interplay between physiological adaptation to perturbation and immune responses, and virus evolution. Since 2016, Chakraborty has also been interested in the role of non-equilibrium regulation of phase separation in transcription. Chakraborty is one of less than 30 individuals who are members of all three branches of the US National Academies – National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and National Academy of Engineering. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and has received many other honors including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the E. O. Lawrence Medal (DOE), a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics from the American Physical Society, the Tel Aviv University International Prize in Biophysics, the Colburn, Professional Progress, Alpha Chi Sigma and Prausnitz Institute Lectureship from the AIChE, and three honorary doctorates. Chakraborty has received 7 awards for his classroom teaching based on student input. He is the co-author of the book, Viruses, Pandemics & Immunity, and the author of the soon to be published book, Physical Concepts in Immunology.
