Person
Goodnow, Christopher Carl (Chris) (1959 - )
FAA FRS
- Born
- 19 September 1959
Hong Kong - Occupation
- Immunologist and Science administrator
Summary
Chris Goodnow is an immunologist recognised internationally as an expert in the immune system. He established the concept of multiple immune tolerance checkpoints, revealing the function of key genes in these checkpoints. This framework is now widely used in cancer treatment with "checkpoint inhibitors". Using DNA technology and genome sequencing he demonstrated how the immune system distinguishes between 'self' and 'non-self 'and how these processes go awry in autoimmune diseases. In 1997 Goodnow became Professor and Director of the Medical Genome Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, leading the development of the Centre into the major national research facility, the Australian Phenomics Facility. As Deputy Director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research he established the multidisciplinary Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular and the Clinical Immunogenomics Research Consortium Australia (CIRCA). In 2021 his team at the Garvan published a ground-breaking strategy for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine effective against emergent strains. Goodnow now leads Hope Research, an interdisciplinary collaboration of diverse clinicians and experts in cellular genomics, with the aim of uncovering a common cause for all autoimmune disease.
Details
"Professor Goodnow has pioneered the use of mouse molecular genetics for studying the mechanisms of immunological tolerance to self antigens. He devised a novel double-transgenic mouse strategy that revolutionised the field, confirmed the existence of B and T cell clonal energy, and revealed multiple processes for B cell and T cell clonal deletion in vivo. His work changed the conceptual framework of tolerance by showing that it is acquired through a series of regulatory checkpoints at many steps in lymphocyte maturation. The elucidation of these 'peripheral tolerance' checkpoints acting on mature and already-activated lymphocytes has fostered practical efforts to induce or restore tolerance in adults during transplantation and autoimmunity." [from https://science.org.au/about-us/academy-fellows/discover-our-fellows/chris-goodnow 2026-08-20]
Chronology
- 1984
- Education - BSc (Vet) (hons), University of New South Wales
- 1990
- Education - PhD, University of Sydney
- 1990 - 1997
- Career position - Howard Hughes Medical Centre Investigator, School of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, California, U.S.A.
- 1997 - 2015
- Career position - Professor and Director, Medical Genome Centre, Australian Cancer Research Foundation Genetics Laboratory, John Curtin School of Medical Research
- 2001
- Award - Gottschalk Medal, Australian Academy of Science
- 2002 -
- Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science
- 2005
- Award - Health Minister's Prize for Excellence in Health and Medical Research, Commonwealth of Australia
- 2006
- Award - ARC Federation Fellow
- 2007
- Award - Ramaciotti Major Research Medal, Clive and Vera Research Foundation
- 2009 -
- Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London
- 2010 -
- Award - Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council
- 2010
- Award - Burnet Orator, Australasian Society for Immunology
- 2010
- Award - Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research, Clive and Vera Research Foundation
- 2012
- Award - Glaxo-Smith-Kline Award for Research Excellence
- 2013 -
- Career position - Member, United States National Academy of Science
- 2015 - 2016
- Career position - President, Australasian Society for Immunology
- 2015 - 2018
- Career position - Deputy Director, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
- 2018
- Award - William E Paul Memorial Award, The Foundation for Primary Immune Diseases
- 2018 - 2022
- Career position - Executive Director and Bill and Patricia Ritchie Foundation Chair, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
- 2025
- Award - Crafoord Prize in Poylarthritis (shared with David Nemazee), Swedish Academy of Science and Crafoord Institute, Lund, Sweden
- 2025
- Award - Max Cooper Prize in Immunology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Related entries
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Goodnow, Christopher C. [and others], 'Self-tolerance checkpoints in B lymphocyte development', Advances in immunology, 59 (1995), 279-368, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2776(08)60633-1. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 20 August 2026