Few weeks ago, in order to celebrate the recently awarded 2008 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine to Harald zur Hausen, Françoise  Barrè-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, we felt the need to create a blog for fast track communications and to allow IAC readers/members to express their thoughts/comments and/or to submit their Posts.

The first reaction to the News of the Nobel Prize Awards  was of sincere enthusiasm for the recognition of the relevant contribution of Viral Oncology to Basic Science and in general to BioMedical Research. The Nobel prize relevance, at the personal level, was much higher for our relationship with all three awardees. Moreover the presence of Prof. zur Hausen in our Editorial Board was a further element of delight.

The wonderful feelings of that news were only shadowed by the absence of Prof. Gallo in association with the HIV discovery. Very likely the long-lasting querelle between the NIH and the Pasteur Institute (legally settled few years ago) has played a major role on the decision of the Nobel Prize Committee. In 50 years, those of us still alive will know the full story of this award, and we hope that it will not be similar to that of  the Fibinger Nobel Prize, whose backstage has been recently published by Stolt CM, Klein G and  Jansson AT in An analysis of a wrong Nobel Prize-Johannes Fibiger, 1926: a study in the Nobel archives (Adv Cancer Res. 2004;92:1-12).

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