Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi wins Nobel medicine prize
Posted Oct 3, 2016 04:23:21 AM.
Last Updated Oct 3, 2016 06:02:56 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the mechanisms of autophagy.
The Karolinska Institute said autophagy is a “fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.”
Ohsumi’s prize was the 107th award in that category since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1905.
The prize committee often awards discoveries that were made decades ago, to make sure that they’re still relevant.
Last year’s prize was shared by three scientists who developed treatments for malaria and tropical diseases.
The 2016 Nobel prize season kicked off with the announcement of the medicine prize by a scandal-tainted jury, to be followed over the next 10 days by the other science awards and those for peace and literature.
The announcements continue with physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday and the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The economics and literature awards will be announced next week.
Each prize is worth 8 million kronor ($930,000).
