These prizes have never been about those who come up with immediate applications. It has been for those who began the field as we know it today, whether they stumbled upon it or worked tirelessly towards it. The applications tend to be awarded in terms of their market profitability. The basic fundamental research rarely is awarded, and the Nobel Prize is an opportunity to recognize that work.

Alfred Nobel was fortunate enough to do the initial research on nitroglycerin and then turn that into a profitable product. In a way this is a model by which industry can give back to the basic research from which it sprang.

It is quite amusing how educational and research institutions try to immediately flaunt their affiliations with the Nobel Laureates. Bruce A. Beutler is a particularly intriguing case. The University of Chicago chalks this up as laureate number 86 as he attended medical school there. The Scripps Research Institute where he was a professor until recently is hailing him as their own. This is despite that as of Septermber 1, 2011, Prof. Beutler is now Director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he was a medical resident and a professor from 1986 to 2000 (and began his nobel laureate work).

Nonetheless, congratulations to Dr. Bruce A. Beutler on his award, and all the institutions which fostered his career. Best wishes to him as he joins a growing cadre of formidable researchers in Texas (yes, the same Texas as GH Bush, GW Bush, and presidential candidate Rick Perry).

References
Shaw Prize Autobiography
http://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=90&threeid=180&fourid=306&fiveid=153

UT Southwestern Press Release
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept353744/files/654940.html
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept353744/files/638281.html

Scripps Research Institute Press Release
http://www.scripps.edu/news/press_releases/nobelprize.html

The University of Chicago front page (right side):
http://www.uchicago.edu/

Not exactly a dupe when a University of California post doctoral fellow is a co-author on the paper.

The authors are Eshel Ben-Jacob and Daniel Schultz. Daniel Schultz was formerly a postdoc at the University of California. See my comment "Original Article" below for the reference and links. The original article is a commentary on another paper which Jose Onuchic was the editor for. Jose Onuchic is the author of the other work that you cite.

I linked the PNAS a few comments down, but here's another link. http://www.pnas.org/content/107/30/13197.full

See my comment for better links.

The press release does not link the original article(s):

Bacteria determine fate by playing dice with controlled odds
Eshel Ben-Jacob and Daniel Schultz
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/30/13197.full
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1008254107

This is a commentary on:

Biological role of noise encoded in a genetic network motif
Mark Kittisopikul and Gürol M. Süel
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/30/13300.abstract
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1003975107

and makes ample reference to

Architecture-Dependent Noise Discriminates Functionally Analogous Differentiation Circuits
Tolga Çaatay, Marc Turcotte, Michael B. Elowitz, Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo and Gürol M. Süel
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2009.07.046