Alicia Zhou, Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Research Institute, shared on LinkedIn:
“There are a handful of scientific discoveries that permanently change the way you see biology.
For me, V(D)J recombination was one of them.
I still remember learning about it as an undergraduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and having a “Wait… that’s actually how it works?!” moment. There was something so satisfyingly elegant about the mechanism – an astounding example of nature’s own engineering at work.
You can only imagine the awe I felt to know that the scientist who uncovered this mechanism, Dr. Susumu Tonegawa, was just across the MIT campus. As a student, that proximity to discovery made scientific breakthroughs feel tangible. We learned biology as a lived practice, not just as concepts from a textbook.
Still today, V(D)J recombination remains my favorite example of how biology has evolved to solve complex problems. Decades later, it continues to shape everything from basic immunology to the cancer immunotherapies that are transforming patients’ lives.
I was deeply saddened to learn of Dr. Tonegawa’s passing. His discoveries fundamentally changed the trajectory of immunology and opened the door to countless advances that followed. Every molecular biologist, myself included, stands on the foundation he built. His curiosity, creativity, and fearlessness to pursue something completely new will continue to inspire generations of scientists to come.
Other article featuring Alicia Zhou on OncoDaily.