George Snell; Genetics Pioneer Won Nobel Prize

Dr. George Snell, whose research paved the way for modern organ transplants and who shared the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1980, has died, officials at Jackson Laboratory said Friday. He was 92.

Snell died Thursday at his Bar Harbor home, said officials at the Maine genetics research facility where Snell worked as a scientist from 1935 until his retirement in 1973.

Known as the “father of immunogenetics,” Snell was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize along with Dr. Baruj Benacerraf and Jean Dausset for basic research that has led to a better understanding of organ transplants and infectious diseases.

Snell’s studies in Maine of histocompatibility antigens in mice began in the 1930s and have helped surgeons select organs for grafting that are more likely to be accepted by the recipients.

Snell also founded and edited the journal Immunogenetics. He continued after his retirement to write about science and the ethics of genetics research, lab officials said.

Born in Haverhill, Mass., in 1903, Snell received degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard University. He joined the Jackson lab as an associate researcher and became its senior staff scientist in 1957.