Medicine Nobel Prize 2016

The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine goes to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his cell recycling work.

17:33 04 October 2016

The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine is given to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries on how to keep cells healthy by recycling waste. He located genes that regulate the cellular “self eating” process known as autophagy. His work aims to help in understanding the errors in genes that cause a range of illnesses including Parkinson’s and cancer.

 

Mr Ohsumi, who has been a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology since 2009, is reported to be surprised about receiving his Nobel Prize, but “extremely honoured.”

 

Speaking with the Japanese broadcaster NHK, he said that the human body "is always repeating the auto-decomposition process, or cannibalism, and there is a fine balance between formation and decomposition. That's what life is about."

 

More than 270 scientists were nominated for the prize, which was shared by three scientists last year for developing treatments for malaria and other tropical diseases. The prize, which was awarded at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, comes with £728,000 cash.

 

The winners of the physics, chemistry and peace prizes are set to be announced later this week.