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Yoshinori Ohsumi Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

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Wife: Mariko Nakazawa
Hometown: Fukuoka, Japan
Age: 79 Years

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Bio/Wiki
Real Name大隅 良典 Ōsumi Yoshinori
ProfessionCell Biologist
Physical Stats & More
Eye ColourBlack
Hair ColourGray
Scientific Career
FieldAutophagy
Awards, Honours, Achievements 2005: Fujihara Award by Fujihara Foundation of Science

2006: Japan Academy Prize by Japan Academy

2007: Science Award by Botanical Society of Japan

2008: Asahi Prize by Asahi Shimbun

2012: Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences

2013: Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate

2015: Gairdner Foundation International Award

2015: International Prize for Biology

2015: Keio Medical Science Prize

2015: Person of Cultural Merit

2015: Rosenstiel Award

2016: Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences

2016: Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research

2016: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Yoshinori Ohsumi after winning the Nobel Prize
2016: Order of Culture by Japanese government
Yoshinori Ohsumi after being awarded the Order of Cuture
2017: Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

2017: 'Honorary Professor Emeritus' at the University of Tokyo
Yoshinori Ohsumi (right) when he was honoured as the 'Honorary Professor Emeritus' at the University of Tokyo
2017: 'Honorary Degree of Doctor' by Kyoto University
Personal Life
Date of Birth9 February 1945 (Friday)
Age (as of 2024)79 Years
BirthplaceFukuoka, Japan
Zodiac signAquarius
NationalityJapanese
HometownFukuoka, Japan
College/University• University of Tokyo, Tokyo
• Rockefeller University, New York
Educational Qualification(s)• Bachelor of Science (BSc) from University of Tokyo (1963-1967)
• Doctor of Science (DSc) in Physiology from University of Tokyo (1967-1974)
• PhD from University of Tokyo
Relationships & More
Marital StatusMarried
Affairs/GirlfriendsMariko Nakazawa
Marriage DateYear, 1971
Family
Wife/SpouseMariko Nakazawa (Researcher)
Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife
ChildrenSon- 2
Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife and children in 2016
ParentsFather- Yoshio (professor of mining engineering at Kyushu University)
Mother- Shina (homemaker)
SiblingsBrother- Kazuo (12 years elder)
Sister- 2 (elder)
• Reiko
• Junko

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Yoshinori Ohsumi

  • Yoshinori Ohsumi was a weak child when he was born and fell sick regularly.
  • A few months after giving birth to him, his mother contracted TB (tuberculosis).
  • His mother fully recovered when he was 8 years old. When he turned twelve, his brother left to study literature at the University of Tokyo.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his parents, elder brother, and sisters in 1951

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his parents, elder brother, and sisters in 1951

  • He liked catching fish and planting seeds during his childhood. He also developed a habit of collecting insects at that time.
  • He later got interested in chemistry and was a member of the chemistry club in his high school.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during his high school years in 1967

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during his high school years in 1967

  • He started his college education at the University of Tokyo in 1963; however, he later found that he was bored with most chemistry subjects and did not like them as much as he thought.
  • He then decided to explore the field of molecular biology and joined the laboratory of Kazutomo Imahori where he got the experience of lab experimentation.

    Kazutomo Imahori

    Kazutomo Imahori

  • He later performed experiments under Professor Akio Maeda and studied the role of ribosome subunits in protein synthesis.
  • Ohsumi participated in several demonstrations related to social causes during his college years.
  • During his doctoral studies at Kyoto University, he became interested in colicin E3, which can pass through the membrane of bacterial cells and instantly inhibits protein synthesis.
  • He met his wife, Mariko, for the first time at the Kyoto University.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife in 1971

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife in 1971

  • He later moved to the University of Tokyo where he completed his PhD.
  • In 1974, Ohsumi joined the laboratory of G. M. Edelman at Rockefeller University in New York, USA and worked in the field of cell biology. His wife, Mariko, later joined the laboratory of Norton Zinder at the same university.
  • He worked there on a project to study the mechanism of DNA replication initiation in yeast. During that project, he saw highly purified vacuoles for the first time under a microscope.
  • In December 1977, he returned to Japan from the USA and worked as an assistant professor in Yasuhiro Anraku’s laboratory in Tokyo University’s Faculty of Science.

    Yasuhiro Anraku

    Yasuhiro Anraku

  • He later studied the membrane of the vacuole, a cellular organelle and showed the active transport of amino acids and calcium over the vacuolar membrane.
  • Ohsumi later moved to the University of Tokyo’s College of Arts and Sciences (Komaba Campus) as an associate professor where he started his own laboratory.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi (third from left) in his laboratory

    Yoshinori Ohsumi (third from left) in his laboratory

  • Within 8 years, he found autophagy genes and different ATG genes while working in his laboratory.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during his research

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during his research

  • In 1996, he became a professor at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) in Okazaki.
  • His first research team included Tamotsu Yoshimori (from Kansai Medical School), Takeshi Noda (the first doctoral student to graduate from Ohsumi’s lab at Komaba), Yoshiaki Kamada (from Johns Hopkins University, US), and Noboru Mizushima (a clinician at Tokyo Medical and Dental University).

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his team in 2003

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his team in 2003

  • He was also a professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Hayama from 2004 to 2009.
  • His work mainly focused on studying the breaking down of the cells and recycling their content termed autophagy (self-eating).

    Yoshinori Ohsumi showing the samples he found during his experiments

    Yoshinori Ohsumi showing the samples he found during his experiments

  • When he joined the field in 1988, less than 20 scientific papers or publications were available on the subject.
  • He later released several papers which established him as one of the leading pioneers of the field.
  • In 2009, he became a specially appointed professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
  • He also became an emeritus professor at the National Institute for Basic Biology and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in 2009.
  • In 2014, he became a Professor at the Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology.
  • His research could help explain a number of diseases/disorders like Cancer, Parkinson’s (neurological disorder), and Alzheimer’s (neurological disorder).

    Yoshinori Ohsumi at his laboratory in 2015

    Yoshinori Ohsumi at his laboratory in 2015

  • He made headlines in 2016 when he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ‘for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.’ He became the 25th Japanese to win the award.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife after winning the Nobel Prize

    Yoshinori Ohsumi with his wife after winning the Nobel Prize

  • His research is considered unique in the world of medicine as he was chosen alone for the Nobel Prize in 2016 instead of a team of other scientists.
  • He has spoken at various functions or academic programs at several colleges and universities.

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during a program

    Yoshinori Ohsumi during a program

  • In an interview, he said that he followed his passion for molecular biology which led him to money and fame.
  • He once said that most people from the younger generation wanted to become researchers for money instead of passion and aspiration to do something for humanity.