Professor Mitinori Saitou of the Graduate School of Medicine has been awarded a 2016 Takeda medical prize (Takeda Igaku Sho) from the Takeda Science Foundation.
Marking its 60th presentation this year, the Takeda Medical Prize honors scholars and researchers who have made significant contributions to the study or practice of medicine through outstanding achievements in the medical field.
Professor Saitou has won the prize for "elucidation of the generation mechanism and in vitro reconstruction of germ cells". Specifically, he has:
- Identified a series of gene clusters expressed in primordial germ cells, elucidated their mechanisms, and proposed a molecular control model of the forming process of germ cells;
- Succeeded in inducing primordial germ cell-like cells from multipotent stem cells, such as mouse embryonic stem cells and iPS cells, and in generating sperm and egg cells and healthy offspring;
- Elucidated the transcription regulation mechanism and epigenetic dynamics of germ cells in line with the foregoing experimental methodology; and
- Succeeded in inducing human primordial germ cell-like cells from human iPS cells, and elucidated common features and differences in germ cell forming mechanisms between humans and mice.
These achievements provoked various new ideas related to germ cell generation mechanisms, and are expected to lead to revelation of causes of infertility and epigenetic disorders.
The award ceremony is scheduled to take place 14 November in Tokyo.
Related link
- Takeda Science Foundation
http://www.takeda-sci.or.jp/ (in Japanese)
