Susumu Tonegawa, 1st Japanese Nobel Medicine Laureate, Dies at 86

Tokyo, July 16 (Jiji Press)–Susumu Tonegawa, the first Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, died on Saturday at the age of 86, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to which he belonged, announced Thursday. Tonegawa, from the central Japan city of Nagoya, received the Nobel prize at the age of 48 in 1987 for clarifying how limited sets of genes produce various antibodies that play an important role in immunity. He later made many achievements in research on brain science, such as unraveling how the brain stores memories. In 2013, Tonegawa and fellow scientists developed a method to replace memories in mice, and this research was selected as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year by U.S. magazine Science in 2014. After graduating from the Faculty of Science of Kyoto University in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, in 1963, Tonegawa moved to the United States later that year and studied molecular biology. He earned a doctorate from the University of California, San Diego, in 1968. He later became a researcher at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland and served as a professor at MIT. While concentrating on his research in the United States for many years, Tonegawa also served as head of Japan’s Riken Center for Brain Science. In addition to receiving Japan’s Order of Culture in 1984, Tonegawa was honored with prestigious foreign medical awards, including the Canada Gairdner International Award, Germany’s Robert Koch Award and the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award of the United States. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara paid tribute to Tonegawa at a press conference Thursday. “He continued to actively publish research results in recent years, making great contributions to scientific and technological development in Japan and the world.” “The creation of scientific and technological innovations is the source of the future development of human society,” the top government spokesman said. “I express my sincere respect for his achievements.” “We offer our deepest condolences, and extend our profound gratitude and highest respect for Dr. Tonegawa’s extraordinary contributions to Riken and to science worldwide, as well as for his exceptional leadership and mentorship,” Riken President Makoto Gonokami said in a statement. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]