DATE2022.01.27 #Awards & Prizes

Professor Osamu Nureki receives the 26th Momofuku Ando Award

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

Professor Osamu Nureki

Professor Osamu Nureki of the Department of Biological Sciences has been awarded the Ando Momofuku Grand Prize, which is given to a basic researcher who contributes to the promotion of food science and the development of new food products. We extend our sincere congratulations to him.

Professor Nureki is a world leader in structural biology and has pioneered the elucidation of the three-dimensional structures of various proteins and nucleic acids that play important functions in living organisms. In particular, through structural analysis of CRISPR-Cas9, which has recently been in the spotlight as a genome editing tool, he has elucidated the molecular mechanism by which the Cas9 protein and guide RNA cooperate to cleave target DNA. Furthermore, he has succeeded in elucidating diverse membrane transport mechanisms by structural analysis of various membrane proteins such as ion channels, transporters, and G protein-coupled receptors. Professor Nureki has solved these difficult problems by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies such as lipid cubic method, X-ray free electron laser, and cryo-electron microscopy. The results of these basic research efforts have directly led to drug discovery and disease treatment applications, and have had a significant impact in a wide variety of life science fields. Professor Nureki has established drug discovery ventures such as "Modaris" (genome editing) and "Curaio" (structural analysis) under the motto "the foundation of the foundation is the application," and is vigorously working to implement the results of his basic research in society, and we look forward to his continued success in the future.

The 26th ANDO Momofuku Award
https://www.ando-zaidan.jp/news/2022-ando-momofuku/

(Responsibility: Professor Hiroshi Nishimasu, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology)