Biography of Klas Kärre, immunologist
Klas Kärre (born January 12, 1954, in Strasbourg, France) is a Swedish immunologist. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2025. He earned his doctorate in 1981 at the Karolinska Institute and has been a professor of molecular immunology there since 1993.
In the mid-1980s, Kärre discovered one of the mechanisms by which immune system cells, called natural killer (NK) cells, identify and destroy their targets. His research revealed that NK cells are inhibited by a transplantation antigen, the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which prevents NK cells from killing their targets. When class I MHC is absent from target cells, they are eliminated by NK cells. Kärre named this phenomenon the “missing self hypothesis.”
Kärre became a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine in 2006 and served as its president in 2009. In the same year, he was also elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He serves on the board of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
Anecdote: Klas Kärre’s father was director of the Maison des étudiants suédois, so Kärre spent eight years of his childhood in the house and walked to school in the nearby town of Gentilly. For six years, he served on the board of the Maison des étudiants suédois.
Biografi över Klas Kärre, immunolog
Klas Kärre (född 12 januari 1954 i Strasbourg, Frankrike) är en svensk immunolog. Han valdes in som medlem i National Academy of Sciences år 2025.
Han tog sin doktorsexamen 1981 vid Karolinska Institutet och har varit professor i molekylär immunologi vid Karolinska Institutet sedan 1993. Under mitten av 1980-talet upptäckte Kärre en av de mekanismer genom vilka immunsystemets celler, kallade naturliga mördarceller (NK), identifierar sina mål och förstör dem. Hans forskning avslöjade att NK-celler hämmas av ett transplantationsantigen, det stora histokompatibilitetskomplexet (MHC) klass I, vilket hindrar NK-celler från att döda sina målceller. När MHC klass I saknas på målceller elimineras dessa av NK-celler.
Kärre kallade detta fenomen för “hypotesen om den saknade själven”. Kärre blev medlem i Nobelkommittén för fysiologi eller medicin 2006 och var dess ordförande 2009. År 2009 valdes han också in som medlem i Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien i Sverige. Han är medlem av styrelsen för Lindau-mötena för Nobelpristagare.
Anekdot: Klas Kärres far var direktör för Maison des étudiants suédois, vilket innebar att Kärre tillbringade 8 år av sin barndom i huset och gick till sin skola till fots, belägen i den angränsande kommunen Gentilly. I sex år var han medlem av styrelsen för Maison des étudiants suédois.
The absence of what is expected rather than the presence of what is unexpected.
Frånvaron av det förväntade snarare än närvaron av det oväntade.
A poem-chair
“I adopted the chair, this familiar object, a few decades ago, at a time when I wanted to create art on a human scale in public spaces, while everywhere else people opted for the monumental: it is an object shaped like the body and serves the body. It is difficult to feel exclusive ownership of an object so universally shareable. It is mine when I occupy it, but if I leave it, someone else can claim it as their chair.” Michel Goulet, artist-sculptor
The project Prendre position
Prendre position is a sculpture-installation project of 47 chair-poems to mark the 100th anniversary of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. They were installed in a flowered meadow created especially for the occasion by the campus estate service.
This artistic installation was conceived by the Quebecois artist-sculptor Michel Goulet, in collaboration with François Massut, founding director of the collective Poésie is not dead.
Each house on the campus is represented by a chair, thanks to a donation from the Maison des étudiants canadiens and the support of the Labrenne group. Each of the 47 chairs is a unique work.
History and architecture of the house
The Maison des étudiants suédois was designed by architects Peder Clason and Germain Debré. It evokes an 18th-century manor. Its human-scale design encourages conviviality and interaction.
