'Cell Reprogramming' Wins Nobel for Japanese Scientist

October 12, 2012 from LinkAsia

Shinya Yamanaka and British scientist John Gurdon have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries relating to stem cell research. The Japanese researcher found out how to create tissue that would act like embryonic cells, without the need to harvest human embryos.

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Shinya Yamanaka

Shinya Yamanaka is a Japanese physician and researcher of adult stem cells. He serves as the director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University; as a senior investigator at the UCSF-affili... Explore this topic

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the fields of life sciences and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of d... Explore this topic

Stem cell

Stem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isola... Explore this topic

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination. In humans, it is called an embryo until about eight weeks after fertilization, and from then it is instead called a ... Explore this topic

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish philanthropist inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The prizes ... Explore this topic

John Gurdon

Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, FRS is a British developmental biologist. He is best known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation and cloning. He was awarded the Lasker Award in 2009. In 2012, he and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medi... Explore this topic

LinkAsia

From Beijng to Tokyo, from Seoul to New Delhi and beyond, LinkAsia takes viewers into media about Asia -- from Asia -- offering unfiltered insight into one of the most diverse, fast-paced regions of the globe. Each week, LinkAsia brings you a unique half-hour program that co... Explore this topic

Yul Kwon

Yul Kwon is an American television host and former government official, lawyer, and management consultant based in Virginia. He first gained national recognition as the winner of the reality TV show Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006. He is currently hosting the TV series America ... Explore this topic

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Shinya Yamanaka

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Stem cell

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Yul Kwon:
Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka just received a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery that human cells can be reprogrammed.

The Japanese stem cell researcher is sharing the prize with British scientist John Gurdon, for discovering ways to create tissue that would act like embryonic cells, without the need to harvest human embryos. Yamanaka celebrated the win, but acknowledged his role as a scientist:

Shinya Yamanaka:
This brings me great joy, but at the same time I feel a great sense of responsibility. Stem cell research is still a very new field.

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