The 2011 Nobel Medicine Prize was awarded on October 3, 2011 to three recipients, including one affiliated with UHN—Drs. Ralph Steinman, Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann. Dr. Steinman was a member of UHN's International Research Advisory Board, which serves to advise research leadership on strategy and directions.
Dr. Steinman was recognized for the discovery of dendritic cells in the 1970s, a key regulator of the immune response. Understanding how these cells function not only led to much deeper understanding of how an immune response is initiated but also to new therapeutic approaches to cancer, infectious disease and autoimmunity.
Sadly, just after the award was announced, Rockefeller University in New York City, Dr. Steinman's home for the last 35 years, announced that he had died of pancreatic cancer on September 30, just a few days before the award was announced. Dr. Steinman was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, and was able to extend his own life using a dendritic-cell based immunotherapy of his own design.
UHN extends condolences to Dr. Steinman's family.
»Dr. Chris Paige, Vice President Research, UHN, remembers Dr. Steinman
