Jules Hoffmann

Jules A. Hoffmann (born 2 August 1941) is a Luxembourg-born French biologist. He is a research director and member of the board of administrators of the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Strasbourg, France. In 2007, he became President of the French Academy of Sciences. 
Together with Bruce Beutler, Hoffmann received one-half of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity". Hoffmann discovered the function of the fruit fly "Toll" gene in innate immunity. Its mammalian homologues, the toll-like receptors, were discovered by Beutler. Toll-like receptors identify constituents of other organisms like fungi and bacteria, and trigger an immune response. This explains how septic shock can be triggered by bacterial remains.
Education.
Hoffmann completed his PhD in biology at the University of Strasbourg in 1969. His post-doctoral training was at the Institut für Physiologische Chemie at Philipps-Universität in Marburg an der Lahn, Germany in 1973–1974.
Research.
Hoffmann was a research assistant at CNRS from 1964 to 1968, and became a research associate in 1969. Since 1974 he has been a Research Director of CNRS. Between 1978 and 2005 he was Director of the CNRS research unit "Immune Response and Development in Insects", and from 1993 to 2005 he was director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of CNRS in Strasbourg.
Hoffmann is a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the French National Academy of Sciences, the Academia Europaea, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.