Japanese biologist wins Nobel Prize for study of cell recycling : bostonglobe

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Japanese biologist wins Nobel Prize for study of cell recycling

Japanese biologist wins Nobel Prize for study of cell recycling

NEW YORK — Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for his discoveries on how cells recycle their content, a process known as autophagy.It is a crucial physical process.During starvation, cells break down proteins and nonessential components and reuse them for energy.AdvertisementCells also use autophagy, a Greek term for "self-eating,'' to destroy invading viruses and bacteria, sending them off for recycling.


additionally latimes

Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi wins Nobel Prize in medicine for work on cellular 'recycling'

Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi wins Nobel Prize in medicine for work on cellular 'recycling'

A Japanese scientist whose experiments explored the machinery by which cells recycle their dilapidated or unwanted contents won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Monday.Yoshinori Ohsumi, a 71-year-old biologist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, used baker's yeast to shed light on a cellular process called autophagy (Greek for "self-eating").In a series of experiments conducted at the University of Tokyo in the late 1980s, Ohsumi identified 15 genes that oversee cells' elimination of damaged proteins and worn-out organelles by moving them into a specialized compartment and breaking them down to provide the cell with nutrients.The process of waste elimination and cellular renewal that Ohsumi elucidated works the same in human cells.


by the same token on theverge

Yoshinori Ohsumi wins Nobel Prize in Medicine for work on cells that eat themselves

Yoshinori Ohsumi wins Nobel Prize in Medicine for work on cells that eat themselves

Yoshinori Ohsumi has received this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for figuring out how and why cells eat themselves.In key experiments from the 1990s, the Japanese biologist brought attention to this important process — called "autophagy," or "self-eating" — which occurs in many diseases, from type 2 diabetes to cancer.Think of autophagy like the cell's own recycling program: useless parts are destroyed to create energy to build new parts.First, cells enclose damaged parts of themselves in a membrane.