Rosenstiel Award given to biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Brandeis University has announced the 2015 winner of the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research — biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi.

Here’s what you need to know:

Who is he?

Ohsumi is a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Frontier Research Center in Japan. He grew up in Japan in the wake of the devastation wrought by World War II.

His father was an engineering professor, but Ohsumi decided he want to work in the natural sciences.

He got a postdoctoral position at The Rockefeller University in New York where he was supposed to work on in vitro fertilization in mice. He later switched his focus to yeast.

Why did he receive this award?

Ohsumi is a world expert on autophagy, an adaptive mechanism of cells where they rid themselves of certain parts.

Autophagy can happen for good or bad. It’s good when faced with starvation — cells recycle basic building blocks to provide new fuel. And it’s good against infection — the cells destroy the internal components that carry the infectious agents.

But other research has shown that autophagy takes a toll on other parts of the cell, over time leading to aging, disease, and death. That, obviously, is the bad part.

Ohsumi is credited with identifying and mapping many of the pathways and processes involved in autophagy.

"Although there have been important contributions to the understanding of this critical process both in yeast and in mammalian cells, the contributions from Ohsumi and his colleagues stand out for their pioneering nature, their originality and their importance," said James E. Haber, a professor of biology and the director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center.

When?

April 6, 2016 — Ohsumi will present a lecture followed by a dinner. Location yet to be announced.

Why should you care?

Apart from the significant implications autophagy has for human health, the Rosenstiel is often a predictor of a Nobel Prize. Since the award was created in 1971, 34 scientists have received the Rosenstiel then later won the Nobel.