The Scientific Advisors and Board of Directors of the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) extend a tribute in memoriam to Dr. Ralph Steinman, who died just days before being awarded the Nobel prize in medicine for research that revolutionized our understanding of the immune system.

His colleague and former student at Rockefeller University and LRI Scientific Advisory Board member Dr. Michel Nussenzweig praises Dr. Steinman's break-through discovery of dendritic cells and their essential role in activating the immune system, which paved the way for new vaccines and immunotherapies, including new treatments in development for lupus.

The LRI also congratulates co-recipients of the 2011 Nobel prize in medicine, Drs. Bruce Beutler and  Jules Hoffman who discovered the Toll-like receptors - evolutionarily ancient immune receptors that are found in animals from invertebrates to man - and uncovered their essential role in recognizing pathogens and triggering immune responses.