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On Thursday, November 9, the 28th Keio Medical Science Prize award ceremony was held in a hybrid format with a Zoom webinar streamed simultaneously at the Kitasato Hall on Shinanomachi Campus.
Beginning in 1996 from a donation by Dr. Mitsunada Sakaguchi, a 1940 alumnus of the School of Medicine, the Keio Medical Science Prize is an annual award under the Keio University Medical Science Fund. It recognizes researchers from Japan and overseas who have made outstanding and creative advancements in the fields of medicine and the life sciences and whose future research holds promise of further achievements. This award is unique among Japanese universities in that ten of its recipients have gone on to become Nobel laureates, including Professor Katalin Karikó who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
This year, Professor Napoleone Ferrara of the University of California, San Diego, with his research theme, "Molecular Basis of Angiogenesis and its Application," and Professor Kazutoshi Mori of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Science, with his research theme, "Molecular Mechanism of the Unfolded Protein Response," each received the award for their research achievements. Professor Ferrara, the first Italian national to receive the Keio Medical Science Prize, was the first in the world to elucidate the molecular basis for the spread of the vascular network throughout the body (angiogenesis). He also developed neutralizing antibodies that suppress the development of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF could explain the spread of blood vessels and their differentiation into arteries, etc. These antibodies have demonstrated therapeutic effects in the treatment of various cancers and ophthalmological diseases. Meanwhile, Professor Mori shed light on the molecular mechanism of the unfolded protein response, in which protein repair occurs when abnormal secretary proteins accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum. Professor Mori's pioneering research has contributed to the treatment of diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and cardiac diseases, among others.
At the award ceremony, Professor Haruhiko Siomi of the School of Medicine, as the chairperson of the Keio Medical Science Prize selection committee, reported on the selection process and introduced the award recipients' biographies and contributions to the field of medical science. In the selection process report, it was detailed that the committee members from both within and outside of Keio University strictly screened 134 candidates and selected two recipients among them, one from overseas and one from Japan. Following the report, President Kohei Itoh presented Professor Ferrara and Professor Mori with medals and certificates before delivering a congratulatory address. After that, Masahito Moriyama, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Evan Felsing, Minister Counselor for Economic and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and Enrico Traversa, Science & Technology Counselor of the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo, delivered their congratulatory speeches to the recipients. The ceremony then concluded with speeches from both recipients where they expressed their joy at receiving the award, detailed the trajectories of their research, and spoke of their gratitude towards their families.
Lectures by both recipients followed an address by Professor Takanori Kanai, Dean of the School of Medicine, at the subsequent commemorative lecture session. In his address, Professor Kanai said that the award ceremony and lectures were deliberately held on Shinanomachi Campus where the School of Medicine is located in order to motivate early career researchers, including medical students, in line with the will of the award's donor, Dr. Sakaguchi, and that he hopes the event will be an opportunity to gain insight into their own research. An audience of about 200 people, which included guests, faculty and staff members, and students at the venue as well as those participating via the livestream, listened attentively to the lecture. The lecture was followed by a lively Q&A session with participants, including students. After Professor Mori's lecture, Professor Ferrara posed several questions, resulting in a stimulating discussion among the award recipients.
In addition, prior to the award ceremony, the School of Medicine Student Ambassador conducted interviews with the award recipients, and after the award ceremony, a reception was held with the selection committee members and award recipients in attendance.
- An archive of the Zoom webinar
- Learn more about the 28th Keio Medical Science Prize recipients and their research
- Keio University Medical Science Fund
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