A molecular biologist who grew up in Portland is one of the three researchers who won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discoveries about how the immune system knows to attack germs and not our own bodies.

Mary E. Brunkow graduated from St. Mary’s Academy in downtown Portland in 1979 and now lives and works in Seattle.

“We are so proud to celebrate this incredible achievement by one of our own, a testament to the power of curiosity, perseverance, and the pursuit of knowledge that begins here at St. Mary’s Academy,” the private girls Catholic school said in an announcement on Facebook Monday.

The work by Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi uncovered a key pathway the body uses to keep the immune system in check, called peripheral immune tolerance. Experts called the fi

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