The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was this month awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist noted for his discoveries in “autophagy”.

Autophagy, derived from Greek, means “self-eating”.

In announcing the prize at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the Nobel Assembly said: “Ohsumi’s discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content.”

Discovery

As early as the 1960s, researchers observed that the cell can destroy its own ingredients by enclosing them in bag-like entities called vesicles. They are then transported to a recycling compartment called lysosome, for degradation. In a series of experiments in the early 1990s, Dr Ohsumi used baker’s yeast to examine the underlying mechanisms of this process and identify the genes responsible for it.

Quoting the Assembly again: “His discoveries opened the path to understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological ways, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection.”

In fact, autophagy is a fundamental cellular process that is also essential in ageing and organ regeneration/degeneration.

Alterations, or mutations, in autophagy genes have been linked to many diseases including cardiomyopathy, Parkinson’s disease, some forms of dementia, diabetes and cancer.

In these conditions, a build-up of cellular debris and toxins from defaulted autophagy could “suffocate” the cell, leading to its death or to a faulty or erratic behaviour.

Emerging therapies targeted at modifying these genes or the autophagy machinery itself might prove very impactful in modifying the course of these ailments.

Biography

Dr Ohsumi, now 71 years old, was born in Fukuoka, Japan and received a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1974. He started his work in chemistry, then switched to molecular biology. As he could not easily find a job in Japan, a friend of his suggested a career in the USA.

He took a postdoctoral position at Rockefeller University in New York and started to study in vitro fertilisation in mice.

“I grew very frustrated,” he told the Journal of Cell Biology, so he switched to studying yeast. He became an associate professor and established his research laboratory in 1988. There, at age 43, he made the discoveries that the Nobel Assembly recognised earlier this month.

He later moved to the National Institute for Basic Biology, in Okazaki, Japan. Since 2009 he has been a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

In 2015, when he received the Canada Gairdner International Award that is given for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science, he described himself as “just a basic researcher in yeast”.

However he acknowledged that his discovery of autophagy is seen as fundamental to human cell survival: “I believe its major relevance to many diseases will be realised in the near future.”

Talking last week to reporters at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Dr Ohsumi gave the following critical career message to students and scientists: “I would like to tell young people that not all can be successful in science, but it’s important to rise to the challenge!”

Joe Yammine is a cardiologist at Bermuda Hospitals Board. He trained at the State University of New York, Brown University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He holds five American Board certifications. He was in academic practice between 2007 and 2014, when he joined BHB. During his career in the US, he was awarded multiple teaching and patients’ care recognition awards. The information herein is not intended as medical advice nor as a substitute for professional medical opinion. Always seek the advice of your physician. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice or discontinue treatment because of any information in this article.