Welcome to the Evolving Folks Project’s “Evolved Man of the Week” profile. Each week, we will highlight an individual who embodies what it means to be an evolved person, famous and non-famous individuals alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to the Japanese stem cell researcher and a Nobel Prize laureate, Shinya Yamanaka.
In 1962, Yamanaka was born in Higashiōsaka, Japan. After graduating from Tennōji High School, which is affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University, he received his medical degree from Kobe University in 1987. In 1993, he earned his doctorate from Osaka City University’s Graduate School of Medicine. He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at National Osaka Hospital before undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco.
He worked at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, US, and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan after that. Currently, Yamanaka serves as a professor and the director emeritus of CiRA, Kyoto University. He also works as a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, where his office is located.
He’s a professor, who’s now retired from his role as director of Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application. He is also the former president of the ISSCR, an organization focused on the latest developments in stem cell research.
He also received the 2011 Wolf Prize in Medicine alongside Rudolf Jaenisch, plus the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize with Linus Torvald. In 2012, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine recognized their discovery about converting mature cells to stem cells, awarding it to him and John Gurdon. His work earned him the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2013.
Since scientists can now revert adult cells to stem cells. They can now use a patient’s own genetic material in stem cell research rather than relying on fetal tissues. Two realities emerged from Yamanaka’s experiment, which revolutionized the field of stem cell research.
Among the most advanced treatments is cell replacement therapy, a groundbreaking method. In degenerative diseases such as ALS or Parkinson’s, stem cells can replace lost cells and are less susceptible to immune rejection. The potential to cause mutations or other genomic abnormalities poses a threat, possibly making it inappropriate for cell therapy. Yamanaka is still engaged in research in this area.
Oh, thank you very much. It is a tremendous honour for me. Especially, I heard that I am going to share the prize with Dr. John Gurdon, so I feel more honoured, because I respect him a lot…Yes, well, I was able to initiate my project because of his experiments fifty years ago. Actually, he published his work in 1962. And that was the year when I was born. So I really feel great and honoured.
Today, we honor Shinya Yamanaka as our Evolved Man of the Week.
Evolving Folks Project 