Autophagy Pioneer Yoshinori Ohsumi Receives 45th Rosenstiel Award, 15th Wiley Prize

In recognition of his groundbreaking work into autophagy, Ohsumi has been awarded the prestigious Rosenstiel Award and Wiley Prize.

AsianScientist (Mar. 22, 2016) – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Honorary Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, has been selected as the recipient of the Rosenstiel Award and the Wiley Prize.

The Rosenstiel Award has been awarded each year since 1971 for noteworthy achievements in the development of fundamental medicine by the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center at Brandeis University. The 45th award will be given to Ohsumi.

The Wiley Prize has been awarded each year since 2002 by the Wiley Foundation, funded by the academic publishing company Wiley Inc., to researchers who have attained noteworthy achievements in the biomedical field. Ohsumi was selected as its 15th recipient. Five of its recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

Both awards have been bestowed in recognition of Ohsumi’s achievements in his research of autophagy, the mechanism by means of which cells degrade their cellular components and subsequently reuse them.

Ohsumi’s observation of morphological changes in the vacuole in yeast led to a much deeper understanding of the autophagic process, which he realized was crucial to the maintenance and repair of the cell and cellular structures. His discoveries contributed greatly to the development of the biomedical field.

“Rockefeller University, where the Wiley Prize will be presented, is where I studied for three years of my post-doctorate days, and where I started researching yeast,” said Ohsumi. “I am deeply moved, since I’ve continued researching it until today.”


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Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology.
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