10th Keio Medical Science Prize Award Ceremony

The 10th Keio Medical Science Prize award ceremony was held on December 6 at the Kitasato Hall on the Shinanomachi Campus.

The Keio Medical Science Prize is awarded to researchers who have made innovations and outstanding achievements in the fields of medicine and life sciences, regardless of their nationality. Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner was awarded the inaugural prize in 1996 for his discovery of BSE prions and was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in the following year. Dr. Barry Marshall, the winner of the 7th Prize in 2002 for his establishment of diagnostic techniques and treatment for the Helicobacter pylori bacterium, was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year.

This year's prize was awarded to Dr. Yoshinori Fujiyoshi, Professor at the Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University in recognition of his research into the "development of high-resolution electron cryo-microscopy for the determination of membrane protein structures".

The award ceremony began with the announcement of the Committee's decision and an introduction of the winner by Dr. Yasuo Ikeda, Chairman of the Keio Medical Science Prize Selection Committee and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Keio University President Yuichiro Anzai then presented Dr. Fujiyoshi with an award certificate and gave a congratulatory speech. This was followed by a congratulatory address from Kenji Kosaka, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Dr. Fujiyoshi gave an acceptance speech expressing his surprise and happiness at receiving the award as well as his commitment to future research activities.

After the award ceremony, a commemorative lecture was held by Dr. Fujiyoshi. In his lecture, Dr. Fujiyoshi explained about the development of electron cryo-microscopy to study the structure and movement of cells without damaging them, as well as the resulting developments in structural biology including the analysis of the structure and function of acetylcholine receptors. A total of 200 people, including guests, academic staff and administrative staff, attended the lecture. In addition, video of both the award ceremony and the commemorative lecture was transmitted live to a classroom on the Yagami Campus.

On the 7th, a commemorative symposium entitled "Power of Structural Biology in Medicine - What Can We Learn from Protein Structures?" was held at the large conference room on the 11th floor of the New Hospital Wing on the Shinanomachi Campus. Over 200 Faculty of Medicine students and researchers attended the symposium and actively participated in discussions.

* For more information about the Keio Medical Science Prize, please visit the Keio University Medical Science Fund website.