More about Professor Yamanaka’s Research
The stated goal of Professor Yamanaka’s laboratory has been to generate pluripotent stem cells from human somatic cells.
The ability to "reprogram" adult cells back into an earlier, undifferentiated state has helped to reshape the ethical debate over stem-cell research by providing an approach for obtaining pluripotent stem cells that does not require that they be taken from an embryo.
Earlier observations that somatic cells could be reprogrammed either by nuclear transfer into oocytes or by fusion with embryonic stem (ES) cells suggested that oocytes and ES cells contain factors that induce reprogramming. By identifying these factors, Yamanaka reasoned that it should be possible to induce pluripotency in somatic cells without using embryos or oocytes.
The significance of this is that ES cells, derived from the inner cell mass of mammalian blastocysts, can grow indefinitely while maintaining pluripotency. These properties have led to expectations that ES cells might be useful to treat a host of degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Diabetes, as well as injuries including spinal cord injury. However, clinical application of human ES cells raises issues about the ethical use of human embryos and problems with tissue rejection after implantation. By generating pluripotent cells directly from somatic cells, it may be possible to circumvent these issues. Once established, these cells may be used in regenerative medicine and also to elucidate disease mechanisms and to screen drugs.
Awards
2007 Osaka Science Prize
2007 Inoue Prize for Science
2007 Asahi Prize
2007 Meyenburg Cancer Research Award
2008 Yamazaki-Teiichi Prize in Biological Science & Technology
2008 Robert Koch Prize
2008 Medals of Honor (Japan) (Medal with Purple Ribbon)
2008 Shaw Prize in Life Science & Medicine
2008 Sankyo Takamine Memorial Award
2009 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research
2009 Gairdner Foundation International Award
2009 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
2010 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology
2010 Kyoto Prize in Biotechnology and Medical Technology
2010 Balzan Prize in Biology
2010 Person of Cultural Merit
2010 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine Category
2011 Albany Medical Center Prize in Biomedicine
2011 Wolf Prize in Medicine
2011 King Faisal International Prize
