# Stanley G Nathenson
**Stanley G. Nathenson** is an immunologist and cell biologist known for revealing, at the level of protein structure, how the immune system recognizes transplanted tissue. He spent his career at the [Albert Einstein College of Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/albert-einstein-college-of-medicine), which he joined in 1965, and became distinguished professor of microbiology and immunology and of cell biology there, holding the Samuel H. Golding Chair in [Microbiology](https://www.edgepedia.org/microbiology).[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044) His studies of the murine H-2 transplantation antigens helped establish the immunological basis for the rejection of transplanted tissues and organs, work that led to therapies for overcoming the rejection process.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044) He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the author of more than 200 research papers.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Immunology and cell biology; MHC structure and T-cell costimulation |
| Principal appointment | Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty member from 1965; distinguished professor of microbiology and immunology and of cell biology (2005) |
| Chair | Samuel H. Golding Chair in Microbiology |
| Training | BA, Reed College (1955); M.D., Washington University School of Medicine (1959); bacterial cell wall work with Jack Strominger at Washington University in St Louis; two years at the NIH; Whitney Fellowship with Alun Davies in England |
| Signature work | amino-terminal 173 residues of H-2Kb (Biochemistry, 1980) |
| Honours | Member of the National Academy of Sciences; Marshall S. Horwitz Faculty Prize for Research Excellence (second annual award) |
| Later research focus | The costimulatory molecules B7-1 and B7-2, which activate and regulate T cell immunity |
## Training
In 1955, Nathenson received a bachelor's degree from [Reed College](https://www.edgepedia.org/reed-college), followed in 1959 by a medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044) He worked on bacterial cell walls with Jack Strominger, the biochemist then at Washington University in St Louis, before spending two years at the National Institutes of Health.[2](https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.14474) Supported by a Whitney Fellowship, he then joined Alun Davies at the McIndoe Memorial Laboratories of the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England.[2](https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.14474)
According to a historical review in The FEBS Journal, Nathenson and Davies found that a soluble, antigenic form of the mouse H-2 transplantation antigen could be released from lymphocyte membranes, either by treatment with ficin, a plant thiol protease related to papain, or simply by incubating the membranes in buffer, and they partially purified it as a globular glycoprotein.[2](https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.14474) Their physicochemical comparisons also showed that the mouse H-2 and human HLA antigens are very similar glycoproteins.[2](https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.14474)
## Career at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Nathenson joined the Einstein faculty in 1965 and played a key role in making immunological research an area of excellence at the medical school.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044)
He held the Samuel H. Golding Chair in Microbiology and was named a distinguished professor in 2005.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044) Einstein awarded him the second annual [Marshall S. Horwitz](https://www.edgepedia.org/marshall-s-horwitz), M.D. Faculty Prize for Research Excellence, established in memory of Marshall S. Horwitz, who died in 2005.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044) His Horwitz Prize Lecture focused on transplant immunity and the costimulation of T cells.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044)
## Representative work
The 173-residue sequence. In 1980, a paper in *Biochemistry* assigned the amino-terminal 173 residues of the H-2Kb glycoprotein, determined by radiochemical methodology. According to the authors of the 1980 *Biochemistry* paper, it was the longest amino acid sequence reported by that methodology and the first extensive information on the primary structure of murine histocompatibility antigens.[4](https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00543a009)
Nathenson synthesized this program in two reviews: one on the primary structural analysis of the murine H-2 transplantation antigens in the 1981 *Annual Review of Biochemistry*,[7](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.005113) and one on murine [MHC class I](https://www.edgepedia.org/mhc-class-i) mutants in the 1986 *Annual Review of Immunology*.[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.iy.04.040186.002351) The 1986 review drew the structure-function conclusion from the mutant analysis: replacement of one or a few amino acids in the postulated recognition regions of the alpha 1 domain (residues 70 to 90) or the alpha 2 domain (residues 150 to 180) of the Kb molecule can have marked effects on biological function.[8](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.iy.04.040186.002351) He also presented structural differences between parent and variant H-2K glycoproteins from mouse strains carrying H-2 gene mutations at the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on the MHC, published in [Symposium](https://www.edgepedia.org/symposium) volume 41 from page 343.[9](https://symposium.cshlp.org/content/41/343.full.pdf+html)
## B7 costimulation
By the time of the Horwitz Prize, Nathenson's research had turned to two costimulatory molecules, B7-1 and B7-2, which were found to play an important role in activating and regulating [T cell](https://www.edgepedia.org/t-cell) immunity.[1](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044)
## What later research made of the work
In a retrospective examination of the MHC class I immunopeptidome, meaning the complete collection of peptides that MHC molecules display for T cells to inspect, Stan Nathenson is named as one of a small number of pioneers, together with Emil Unanue, Alain Townsend, Hans-Georg Rammensee, Vic Engelhard, and Don Hunt, whose groups each contributed critically to working out the basic rules of antigen presentation.[10](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9243166/) The same review traces the roots of the field to the genetics of tissue transplantation, which revealed the MHC as a principal locus governing transplant survival, first in mice through the H-2 complex and then in humans through the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system.[10](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9243166/)
## References
1. [Einstein honors Dr. Stanley Nathenson with Marshall S. Horwitz Faculty Prize for Research Excellence](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/483044)
2. [Historical review of papain cleavage of IgG and HLA (FEBS Journal)](https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.14474)
3. [Structural studies on protein products of murine chromosome 17: partial amino acid sequence of an H-2Kb molecule (PNAS, 1976)](https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.73.10.3661)
4. [Primary structure of murine MHC alloantigens: amino acid sequence of the amino-terminal 173 residues of the H-2Kb glycoprotein (Biochemistry, 1980)](https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00543a009)
5. [Isolation and sequence analysis of the intramembranous hydrophobic segment of the H-2Kb murine histocompatibility antigen (Biochemistry)](https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00524a002)
6. [Isolation of a cDNA clone for the murine transplantation antigen H-2Kb (PNAS)](https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.79.10.3270)
7. [Primary Structural Analysis of the Transplantation Antigens of the Murine H-2 Major Histocompatibility Complex (Annual Review of Biochemistry, 1981)](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.005113)
8. [Murine Major Histocompatibility Complex Class-I Mutants: Molecular Analysis and Structure-Function Implications (Annual Review of Immunology, 1986)](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.iy.04.040186.002351)
9. [Structure of the Molecular Products of the MHC (Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology)](https://symposium.cshlp.org/content/41/343.full.pdf+html)
10. [MHC Class I Immunopeptidome: Past, Present, and Future](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9243166/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in immunology, microbiology, and virology › Immunogenetics and MHC research*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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