The 2011 Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded last month to three scientists for their discoveries about the immune system. Half of the $1.5 million prize went to Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann, and the other half was awarded to Ralph Steinman (right). In the 1970s, Steinman found dendritic cells that help regulate adaptive immunity. Beutler and Hoffmann were cited for their later discoveries of receptor proteins that can recognize bacteria and other microorganisms as they enter the body and activate the first line of defense in the immune system, known as innate immunity. These discoveries advanced the development of improved vaccines against infectious diseases. Beutler is professor of genetics and immunology at The Scripps Research Institute (San Diego) and Hoffmann is head of CNRS, the French National Research Agency at the University of Strasbourg. Steinman, who headed Rockefeller University's Center for Immunology and Immune Diseases since 1970, passed away on September 30, three days before the awards were announced.

Protea Biosciences (Morgantown, WV, USA) has announced that Alessandro Baldi has joined the company as vice president and general manager. He brings over 25 years of experience in separation sciences and mass spectrometry. At PerkinElmer he held senior roles including senior director of their mass spectrometry business.

Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals (Laguna Niguel, CA, USA) has named John P. Butler as CEO, replacing Michael Griffith who has assumed the role of CSO and is retaining the title of president at Inspiration. Butler has more than 20 years of business experience, most recently from Genzyme where he served as president of the company's rare genetic diseases business.

Scott Canute, a former president at both Eli Lilly and Genzyme, has been named to the board of directors of Oncobiologics (Cranbury, NJ, USA). A 30-year industry veteran, Canute was most recently head of global manufacturing and corporate operations for Genzyme.

Immune Design Corp. (Seattle) has appointed Guy F. Cipriani as its new chief business officer. Most recently, he was vice president of business development and a member of senior management at Cardiome Pharma.

Orexo (Uppsala, Sweden) has appointed Peter Edman as CSO. Since 2008 Edman has served as CSO and head of R&D at Sobi (Swedish Orphan Biovitrum). Before joining Sobi, he held various R&D positions at Pharmacia and AstraZeneca. He will assume his position on January 1, 2012.

Brian Gibson has been named vice president of finance, chief accounting officer and treasurer at Aastrom Biosciences (Ann Arbor, MI, USA), succeeding CFO Scott Durbin, who is leaving the company for personal reasons. Gibson joined Aastrom in 2010 as controller after 10 years of progressive experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Frances K. Heller has joined Zafgen's (Cambridge, MA, USA) board of directors. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in pharma and biotech business development, licensing and legal affairs. Most recently, she served as executive vice president of business development at Exelixis Pharmaceuticals.

Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA) has named Anthony (Tony) Hooper executive vice president, global commercial operations. He joins Amgen after 16 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was most recently senior vice president, commercial operations and president, United States, Japan and Intercontinental. In addition, Amgen announced the appointment of Robert A. Bradway, its president and COO, to the company's board of directors. Bradway joined Amgen in 2006 as vice president, operations strategy.

Jennifer Jackson has joined Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, MA, USA) as senior vice president of regulatory affairs. She joins Cubist from Biogen Idec Hemophilia where she was vice president of regulatory affairs and clinical compliance.

Panmira Pharmaceuticals (San Diego) has named Hari Kumar as CEO. Kumar most recently served as chief business officer of Amira Pharmaceuticals.

Robert Langer has been named this year's winner of The Economist's tenth annual Innovation Awards in the category of bioscience. Langer is a pioneer in the application of engineering principles to biology, notably in the fields of controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering. He is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the department of chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA).

Hybrigenics (Paris) has named Alain Munoz to its board as a nonexecutive independent director, replacing Bernhard Ehmer, president of ImClone Systems. Munoz has over 20 years' senior management experience in the pharma industry, with Sanofi as R&D vice president and Fournier as vice president of R&D and business development and senior vice president of the pharmaceutical division. He currently serves on the boards of Vivalis, Novagali Pharma and Zealand Pharma.

Franck Rousseau, formerly therapeutic area head and vice president, hepatic diseases at Gilead Sciences, has been appointed to the newly created position of chief medical officer at Tranzyme Pharma (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA).

DNA2.0 (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Walter Tian as senior vice president for marketing and corporate strategy. Tian has more than 25 years of experience as a marketing executive in biotech and the life sciences industry, most recently serving as vice president for marketing at OriGene.