Acceptance speech: 18th Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in Biology and Biomedicine

Acceptance speech by Carl H. June, winner of the 2025 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine, who was honored alongside Michel Sadelain for their groundbreaking complementary studies in the development of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) for the treatment of patients with different types of blood cancer, such as leukemia.

June explains how CAR-T cells have transformed cancer treatment by acting as a “living drug” capable of remaining in the body, multiplying and providing long-term therapeutic surveillance. He reviews the first clinical trials launched in 2009 in patients with advanced leukemia and highlights the complete and lasting remissions achieved in people with no remaining therapeutic options. He also underlines that the major challenge today is to extend this cellular precision to solid tumors and autoimmune diseases.