Dr. Nedospasov is professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at both the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow, and the A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology. He has conducted research in the Departments of Nucleic Acid Biosynthesis of the Institute of Molecular Biology as a Junior Staff Scientist and Senior Investigator, and later as Head of the Cytokine Molecular Biology Group. His past and present temporary appointments include a visiting scientist position in the Department of Virology of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in Lausanne, the NCI-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center in Frederick, Maryland, and the German Rheumatism Research Center in Berlin, Germany. In 2000, he received the Peregrinus Award from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and, in 2005, the Helmholtz-Humboldt Award, an International Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres. In 2003, he was elected associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Nedospasov was first named an HHMI International Research Scholar in 1995; this is his third HHMI award. His current HHMI project deals with the role of TLR4 and TNF signaling in host defense and autoimmune pathologies.

Sergei Nedospasov uses a mouse model to study the effects of a continuous blockade of tumor necrosis factor, a key factor in innate immunity. Similar blockades occur in patients with rheumatoid arthritis during treatment. He hopes to define the parameters of the weakening of the host's defense, which could be useful in developing more effective therapeutic strategies.