Susumu Tonegawa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Susumu Tonegawa
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Tonegawa early in his tenure at MIT
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| Born | September 5, 1939 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
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| Known for | Antibody diversity E-box V(D)J recombination |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics, Immunology, Neuroscience |
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Susumu Tonegawa (利根川 進, Tonegawa Susumu, born September 5, 1939) is a Japanese scientist. He won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987. He received this award for discovering how our bodies create many different antibody types. This process is called V(D)J recombination.
Even though he won the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology (the study of the immune system), Tonegawa is trained as a molecular biologist. After winning the Nobel Prize, he changed his focus. He now studies neuroscience, which is about the brain and nervous system. He looks at how memories are formed and retrieved.
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Early Life and Education
Susumu Tonegawa was born in Nagoya, Japan. He went to Hibiya High School in Tokyo. While studying at Kyoto University, he became very interested in how genes are controlled. This was after reading papers by scientists François Jacob and Jacques Monod. He says they helped inspire his interest in molecular biology.
Tonegawa finished Kyoto University in 1963. At that time, there were not many places to study molecular biology in Japan. So, he moved to the University of California, San Diego. There, he earned his Ph.D. in 1968.
Career Journey
After getting his Ph.D., Tonegawa worked at the Salk Institute in San Diego. He was in the lab of Renato Dulbecco. Dr. Dulbecco encouraged him to move to the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland in 1971. This is where Tonegawa switched from studying molecular biology to immunology. He did his most important immunology research there.
In 1981, Tonegawa became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1994, he became the first Director of the MIT Center for Learning and Memory. This center grew into The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory under his leadership. He stepped down as director in 2006. Today, he is a professor of Neuroscience and Biology at Picower. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
Tonegawa also led the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan from 2009 to 2017.
Amazing Discoveries
How Our Immune System Works
Tonegawa's Nobel Prize work helped us understand the adaptive immune system. This system learns to fight off different germs. For over 100 years, scientists wondered how our bodies could make millions of different antibody types. This was a big mystery. Before Tonegawa's discovery, many thought each gene made only one protein. But humans have fewer than 19,000 genes. How could they make millions of antibodies?
Starting in 1976, Tonegawa showed how our genetic material rearranges itself. This allows it to form millions of antibodies. He compared the DNA of B cells (a type of white blood cell) in young and adult mice. He found that in adult mice, genes in B cells move around, combine, and even get deleted. This creates the huge variety in antibodies. This special process is called V(D)J recombination.
In 1983, Tonegawa also found a special genetic switch. This switch helps control how antibody genes are turned on. It was the first time such a switch was found in cells.
Exploring the Brain and Memory
Soon after winning his Nobel Prize, Tonegawa changed his research area again. He moved from immunology to neuroscience. He has focused on brain research ever since.
Tonegawa's lab was a pioneer in using new technologies. They used methods to add or remove specific genes in mammals. He helped show how certain proteins are important for memory formation. These include CaMKII (in 1992) and the NMDA receptor (in 1996).
His lab also found a possible treatment for Fragile X Syndrome. This is a genetic condition that affects brain development. They showed that a drug could greatly reduce symptoms in mice with the condition.
Tonegawa was one of the first to use optogenetics in brain research. This is a method that uses light to control brain cells. This led to his amazing work on memory engram cells. These are the specific brain cells that store memories. In 2012, his lab showed that activating certain brain cells in mice could bring back a specific memory. This proved that memories are stored in groups of cells in the hippocampus. These are now often called memory engram cells.
More recently, his lab continues to use advanced techniques. They are learning more about memory engram cells. Tonegawa has found how these cells are involved in how we feel about memories. They also play a role in social memory. His work also explores their link to brain problems like depression, amnesia, and Alzheimer's disease. These discoveries offer hope for future medical treatments. They could help people by working with memory engram cells.
Personal Life
Tonegawa lives near Boston with his wife, Mayumi Yoshinari Tonegawa. She used to be a director and interviewer for NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). Now, she is a freelance science writer. The Tonegawas have three children: Hidde, Hanna, and Satto (who is deceased).
Tonegawa is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. He even threw out the first pitch at one of their games in 2004. That was the year they won the World Series!
Awards and Honors
- 1982 – Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
- 1983 – Gairdner Foundation International Award
- 1984 – Order of Culture (Bunkakunsho), Emperor of Japan
- 1984 – Foreign Associate, American Academy of Arts and Sciences of the United States
- 1986 – Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences of the United States
- 1986 – Robert Koch Prize
- 1987 – Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
- 1987 – Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
- 1995 – Honored on a stamp issued by Gambia
- 2004 – Honorary Degree, Kyoto University
- 2006 – Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- 2007 – RIKEN Fellow
- 2009 – Honorary Degree, City University of Hong Kong
- 2010 – David M. Bonner Lifetime Achievement Award, UCSD
Images for kids
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Tonegawa early in his tenure at MIT
See also
- Long-term potentiation
- List of Japanese Nobel laureates
- List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Kyoto University
