AsianScientist (Sept. 15, 2026) – Four Japanese researchers have won the Laskar Awards in two categories—the 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the 2026 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. The awards are conferred by the Lasker Foundation to individuals who have made significant contributions across the fields of basic medical research, clinical medical research and public service.
This is the second time Japanese researchers have received the award in the Clinical Medical Research category since the inception of the awards in 1945, and the first time it has been awarded to three Japanese researchers simultaneously.
The Science of Sleep
The 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award was conferred to Masashi Yanagisawa from the University of Tsukuba. He shared this award with Emmanual Mignot from the Standford University School of Medicine. They received the awards for their independent discoveries of orexin, a brain peptide that maintains wakefulness and causes narcolepsy when it is absent. Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological sleep disorder that presents in an inability to control sleep-wake cycles, causing patients to feel overwhelmingly drowsy in the day or even fall asleep suddenly.
In his research, Yanagisawa was investigating cell-surface proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to understand their role in translating environmental cues. Yanagisawa and his team purified two peptides for further analysis. When these peptides were injected into the brains of live rats, food intake increased. He named these peptides orexins, after orexis the Greek word for appetite.
Yanagisawa later worked with Richard Chemelli to engineer mice without the orexin genes—expecting appetite to decrease. However, there was no change in the food intake of the mice. While monitoring the mice at night, Chemelli noticed a mouse suddenly fall on its side, only to later get up and resume grooming. Upon further experimentation, the team found that the mice were exhibiting similar neural activity to humans with narcolepsy. These findings were published in 1999.
Building on the discoveries of both Yanagisawa and Mignot, several treatments that block and spur orexin receptors are now available to treat insomnia and narcolepsy. The insomnia treatments are unique in their ability to induce a natural sleep with a lower risk of dependency or tolerance.
A Novel Approach to Hemophilia
The 2026 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award honors Kunihiro Hattori, Takehisa Kitazawa and Tomoyuki Igawa, from Chugai Pharmaceutical for their development of an antibody that treats hemophilia A by preventing uncontrolled bleeding.
While its prevalence varies globally, hemophilia A is the most common form of inherited bleeding disorders. Treatment typically involves infusing lab-made or plasma-derived clotting protein (in the case of hemophilia A, Factor VIII), to allow a patient’s blood to clot. This process can involve multiple injections a week, injected directly into a vein.
Factor VIII works by bridging clotting Factors IX and X. Without it, patients can experience prolonged or spontaneous bleeding. Instead of replacing the clotting factor, Hattori and his team explored the novel idea of substituting it with an antibody.
Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins with two identical arms. Hattori and team developed individual antibodies that attach to Factors IX and X, that were then used to produce bispecific antibodies with one arm attaching to Factor IX and the other to Factor X—effectively mimicking the bridging role of Factor VIII. They later developed the technology, known as ART-Ig, to produce this bispecific antibody commercially for effective treatment.
The treatment, Emicizumab, can also be more conveniently administered through subcutaneous injections, just under the skin rather than infusions directly into the bloodstream.
“I am deeply honored that our collective efforts, together with many researchers and clinicians working for the benefit of society and patients, have been recognized through this award,” said Hattori. “At the same time, there are still people around the world who require treatment but have not yet fully benefitted from advances in care. I believe our continuing mission is to ensure that this treatment reaches patients everywhere.”
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Source: Lasker Foundation ; Image: Wey Wen Wong/ Asian Scientist Magazine
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