Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, 71, an honorary professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, has just won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine, for his “discoveries on the mechanisms of autophagy”. Autophagy is the cleaning system of cells, which allows them to destroy their own content in order to make room for new cells, and fight against bacteria and viruses that invade them.
Professor Ohsumi was the first to discover how cells digest their own waste in order to stay healthy. He made this discovery in 1988 while studying baker’s yeast cells. Her discovery “paved the way for understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as in adapting to starvation or responding to infection” highlighted the Assembly of the Karolinska Institute by awarding the Nobel Prize.
This discovery is also considered fundamental for research on certain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer Where Parkinson’s disease.
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