Dausset, Jean Baptiste Gadriel Joachim (1916– )

French immunologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1980 for his work on genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions. He was an early pioneer in the study of the human major histocompatability complex (MHC), the system of genes and their corresponding antigens on the surface of cells that enables the body to recognize its own cells.

Dausset's experience in World War II led him to question why individuals responded differently to blood transfusions and prompted him to study how the immune system recognizes its own cells and distinguishes them from foreign ones. He discovered that a set of genes called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes cause different recognition molecules to be expressed on the surface of cells in different individuals. He extended these studies to show the phenomenon of tissue-typing by grafting small pieces of skin between individuals of the same family, demonstrating the need for matching of HLA expression in individuals prior to tissue or organ transplantation.

Dausset was born in Toulouse and studied medicine at the University of Paris. His studies were delayed by the outbreak of World War II, during which he was a member of the French Medical Corps. He received his medical degree in 1945.