Tasuku Honjo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tasuku Honjo
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| 本庶 佑 | |
Honjo in 2013
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| Born | 27 January 1942 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Education | Kyoto University (BS, MD, PhD) |
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| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular Immunology |
| Institutions | Kyoto University |
| Doctoral advisor | |
| Notable students | Shizuo Akira |
Tasuku Honjo (本庶 佑, Honjo Tasuku, born January 27, 1942) is a Japanese doctor and scientist. He studies the body's immune system. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018. He is famous for finding a special protein called PD-1.
His discovery of PD-1 helped create new ways to fight cancer. He also found other important molecules. These include cytokines like IL-4 and IL-5. He also discovered a protein called AID. AID is important for how our immune system makes different types of antibodies.
He was chosen as a member of important science groups. These include the National Academy of Sciences in the United States (2001). He also joined the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (2003). In 2005, he became a member of the Japan Academy.
In 2018, he shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with James P. Allison. They both won the Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science in 2014 for the same work.
Contents
His Life and Work
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Tasuku Honjo was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1942. He became a medical doctor in 1966. He earned his Ph.D. (a high-level science degree) in 1975. Both degrees were from Kyoto University.
He worked at different research places. From 1971 to 1973, he was a visiting researcher in the U.S. He then studied at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). He worked there from 1973 to 1977. He continued to visit NIH as a scholar later on.
Honjo also taught at universities in Japan. He was a professor at the University of Tokyo. He also taught at Osaka University and Kyoto University. Since 2005, he has been a professor at Kyoto University. He studies immunology and genetics there. He also served as president of the University of Shizuoka from 2012 to 2017.
He is a member of the Japanese Society for Immunology. He was its president from 1999 to 2000. He is also an honorary member of the American Association of Immunologists. In 2017, he became a top professor at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study.
About COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a false rumor spread online. It claimed that Honjo believed the coronavirus was made in a lab in China. The BBC Reality Check team looked into this.
Honjo said he was "greatly saddened" by these claims. He stated that his name was used to spread "false accusations and misinformation." He confirmed that he did not believe the virus was made in a lab.
His Discoveries
Honjo helped us understand how our immune system changes antibodies. He showed how antibody genes rearrange themselves. He proved this by studying their DNA structure between 1980 and 1982.
He also found the genes for IL-4 and IL-5. These are cytokines that help control the immune system. In 2000, he discovered a protein called AID. He showed that AID is very important. It helps our immune system make different types of antibodies. It also helps antibodies become stronger.
In 1992, Honjo found a gene called PD-1. This gene becomes active in certain immune cells called T-lymphocytes. His discovery of PD-1 was a big step. It led to new ways to treat cancer. This treatment is called cancer immunotherapy. It works by blocking PD-1. This helps the immune system fight cancer cells better.
Awards and Honors
Tasuku Honjo has received many awards for his important work. In 2016, he won the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences. This was for his discoveries about antibodies and PD-1.
In 2018, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with James P. Allison. They had also shared the Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science in 2014.
Major Awards
Here are some of the main awards Honjo has received:
- 1981 – Noguchi Hideyo-Memorial Award for Medicine
- 1981 – Asahi Prize
- 1984 – Kihara Prize, Genetics Society of Japan
- 1984 – Osaka Science Prize
- 1985 – Erwin von Baelz Prize
- 1988 – Takeda Medical Prize
- 1992 – Behring-Kitasato Award
- 1993 – Uehara Prize
- 1996 – Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy
- 2000 – Person of Cultural Merit
- 2001 – Foreign Associate of U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
- 2012 – Robert Koch Prize
- 2013 – Order of Culture
- 2014 – William B. Coley Award
- 2014 – Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science
- 2015 – Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award
- 2016 – Kyoto Prize
- 2016 – Keio Medical Science Prize
- 2016 – Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award
- 2016 – Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates
- 2017 – Warren Alpert Foundation Prize
- 2018 – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Honorary Degrees
- 2020 - Macau University of Science and Technology, China
- 2021 - University of British Columbia, Canada
- 2024 - National Taiwan University, Taiwan (He was the first Japanese person to get an honorary degree from this university.)
See also
In Spanish: Tasuku Honjo para niños
- List of Japanese Nobel laureates
- List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Kyoto University
- Kyoto University
- Shinya Yamanaka
