Dr. Bruce Beutler, chair of the department of genetics at the Scripps Research Institute (SRI), was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. Beutler, also a professor and director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, received the award along with Jules A.?Hoffmann for their “discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.” Beutler, an alumnus of UC San Diego, spearheaded the use of a technique called “forward genetics” to study genes used by the mammalian innate immune system to clear pathogens from the body. He is credited with the key receptors that indicate to the body that an infection is present. He is continuing this research with colleagues at SRI and hopes to find all proteins that protect mammals against infections. Beutler was also the recipient of the 2011 Shaw Prize, the 2009 Albany Medical Center Prize, the 2007 Frederik B. Bang Award and the 2006 William B. Coley Award (Cancer Research Institute), among others. He is the fourth Nobel Laureate SRI faculty member, joining Gerald Edelman (1972 in physiology or medicine), K. Barry Sharpless (2001 in chemistry) and Kurt Wuthrich (2002 in chemistry).