Japanese scientist wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine - Action News
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Health

Japanese scientist wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Yoshinori Ohsumi wins the 2016 Nobel Prize for Medicine or physiology for his discovery of mechanisms for degrading and recycling cellular components.

Molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi hailed for 'brilliant experiments' in autophagy

Molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, seen here in 2012, on Monday received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of mechanisms for degrading and recycling cellular components. (The Inamori Foundation/Associated Press)

Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for discoveries related to the degrading and recycling of cellular components.

The Karolinska Institute honoured Ohsumi for "brilliant experiments" in the 1990s on autophagy, the machinery with which cells recycle their content.

Disrupted autophagy has been linked to various diseases,including Parkinson's, diabetes and cancer, the institute said.

Ohsumi's work has led to a better understanding of how the human body adapts to starvation, infection and other conditions.

Though the concept has been known for more than 50 years, its "fundamental importance in physiology and medicine was only recognized after Yoshinori Ohsumi's paradigm-shifting research in the 1990s," Karolinska said in its citation.

Ohsumi was born in 1945 in Fukuoka. He is currently a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

It was the 107th award in the medicine category since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1905.

Last year's prize was shared by three scientists who developed treatments for malaria and other tropical diseases.

The announcements continue with physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The economics and literature awards will be announced next week.

Each prize is worth the equivalent of about$1.224 millionCdn (eightmillionkronor).

Corrections

  • An earlier version of this article said eight million kronor equal $14,200 Cdn. In fact, the prize total amounts to about $1.224 million Cdn.
    Oct 03, 2016 7:56 AM ET