Canadian scientist wins Nobel prize, days after unexpected death

[News_Editor]

Canadian scientist wins Nobel prize, days after unexpected death

2011-10-04 11:08:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

STOCKHOLM (BNO NEWS) -- Canadian scientist Ralph Steinman was among three people who were honored with a Nobel prize on Monday, but the event was thrown into chaos when news emerged that Steinman had died last week.

Steinman was awarded the Nobel Physiology/Medicine Prize for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity. American Bruce Beutler and France's Jules Hoffmann were both awarded the other half of the prize for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.

"This year's Nobel Laureates have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation," the Nobel Foundation said in a statement. "Scientists have long been searching for the gatekeepers of the immune response by which man and other animals defend themselves against attack by bacteria and other microorganisms. Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann discovered receptor proteins that can recognize such microorganisms and activate innate immunity, the first step in the body's immune response. Ralph Steinman discovered the dendritic cells of the immune system and their unique capacity to activate and regulate adaptive immunity, the later stage of the immune response during which microorganisms are cleared from the body."

But the day took an unexpected turn when Rockefeller University in the United States announced that Steinman had died on Friday at the age of 68. "The Rockefeller University is delighted that the Nobel Foundation has recognized Ralph Steinman for his seminal discoveries concerning the body's immune responses," said University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. "But the news is bittersweet, as we also learned this morning from Ralph's family that he passed a few days ago after a long battle with cancer."

The unexpected turn of events put the Nobel Foundation in a difficult position as its statutes say that the work produced by a person since deceased cannot be given an award, unless the person dies after being awarded the prize but before being able to receive it.

Annika Pontikis, a spokeswoman for the Foundation, said Steinman was already dead when he was awarded the prize. "The decision by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Instiutet was made today, October 3, just before the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine," she said.

However, the Board of the Nobel Foundation decided during an emergency meeting that it would not change its decision. "The purpose of the above-mentioned rule is to make it clear that the Nobel Prize shall not deliberately be awarded posthumously," Pontikis said in a statement.

She added: "However, the decision to award the Nobel Prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel Laureate was alive. This was true - though not at the time of the decision - only a day or so previously. The Nobel Foundation thus believes that what has occurred is more reminiscent of the example in the statutes concerning a person who has been named as a Nobel Laureate and has died before the actual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony."

Pontikis said "the events that have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, are unprecedented in the history of the Nobel Prize."

Last year the prize went to British physiologist Robert Geoffrey Edwards for the development of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy. His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10% of all couples worldwide.

The Nobel Physics Prize will be announced on Tuesday.

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