On Monday morning I woke up to the announcement for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and was ecstatic to read about the acclaimed work of Steinman, Beutler and Hoffman on the immune system. In the past decade, the Prize has been awarded to many in the field of cancer genetics and research — 2009’s prize was awarded for research on telomeres and their protective function on chromosomes, and 2008 recognized the discovery of HPV and HIV. This year was certainly no exception.

Bruce Beutler is a professor at the Scripps Institute in San Diego and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In his research career, he has discovered Toll-like receptors which interact with gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide to mediate inflammation and immune system defenses. Parallel to these studies, French scientist Jules Hoffmann of the French National Center for Scientific Research was cited for his contributions on innate immune responses in Drosophila. Beutler and Hoffmann share one-half of this year’s Prize, while Ralph Steinman is honored with the other half.

Closest to the Weill Cornell Medical College’s New York City campus, Canadian-born Steinman has been affiliated with Rockefeller University since his postdoctoral work in the Cohn Lab starting in 1970. His groundbreaking studies had named dendritic cells for their mechanisms in regulating perpetrators of the immune system. Dendritic cells are responsible for recognizing and capturing antigens (foreign molecules that stimulate antibody production in the body), controlling the immune system response by maturing during infection and signaling other targeting molecules and also silencing self-antigens for tolerance. Immunological applications of using dendritic cells span from vaccines and autoimmune disorder treatments to cancer therapies.

My first thought was that Rockefeller needed a new plaque to hang up on its metal gate on York Avenue — a reputable line of pioneering discoveries by their very own: from Claude, de Duve and Palade for the structural and functional organization of a cell in the 1930s, Paul Nurse in his studies on cyclin regulation of the cell cycle, and David Baltimore’s work on reverse transcriptase. However, that zealous thought was quickly overshadowed as I read further about the unfolding dilemma. It turns out that through a series of unfortunate events, Steinman had recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. Exactly how recently? Three days before the committee publicized its decision to the world.

Steinman’s family gave a press release of the tragic news, published immediately after the committee broke its notice. The late scientist is survived by his wife and two children. His son, Adam Steinman, spoke at a press conference and said that the family is “devastated to have lost Ralph over the weekend ... [but] proud to be receiving this wonderful honor.”

And then the question loomed: what would the Nobel committee do about this dilemma? It seemed like a Catch-22 — there would be additional public grief if the Prize was rescinded for Steinman, but the Nobel Foundation had ruled in 1974 that the Prize could not be awarded posthumously unless the circumstance was that the death had occurred after the announcement (only twice has this particular situation transpired: in 1961 when Dag Hammarskjöld was awarded the Peace Prize, and in 1931 to Erik Axel Karlfeldt in the field of literature).

Along with the rest of the scientific community, I held my breath as the committee stated that they would take some time to review the affair and make a decision. Though a few days were expected to pass before a conclusion was drawn up, I was certainly surprised and very pleased when the press reported back within the same day with these words from the committee:

“The events that have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, are unprecedented in the history of the Nobel Prize. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, work produced by a person since deceased shall not be given an award. However, the statutes specify that if a person has been awarded a prize and has died before receiving it, the prize may be presented. An interpretation of the purpose of this rule leads to the conclusion that Ralph Steinman shall be awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine."

The original assessment of the Prize will be kept in good faith, and Steinman’s survivors will be the recipients of his share of the award. The world will carry on in celebrating the joy of Steinman’s life and science will continue the legacy of his work — and hey, a new plaque is already up.

Debbie Tseng is in her first year of medical school at Weill Cornell Medical College. She may be reached at dgt2001@med.cornell.edu.  What’s Up, Doc? appears alternate Fridays this semester.