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Sixth Sankyo Takamine Memorial Award Announced

Tokyo, July 10, 2008 - The Sankyo Foundation of Life Science Chairman Yasuhiro Ikegami announced today that the Sixth Sankyo Takamine Memorial Award for fiscal 2008 is to be awarded to Shinya Yamanaka M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, iCeMS, Kyoto University.

The Sankyo Takamine Memorial Award was established in November 2003 as part of the Foundation's 20th anniversary and in memory of the research work of Dr. Jokichi Takamine,
who was the first president (March 1913-July 1922) of Sankyo Co., Ltd., a former subsidiary of DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED.

Since November 1983, the Sankyo Foundation of Life Science has provided support for innovative research in the life sciences, including two-year research grants, facilitating
exchange programs in which foreign academics are invited to Japan while Japanese researchers work overseas, the sponsorship of international symposia, and the establishment of two-year Sankyo fellowships.

After graduating from Kobe University's School of Medicine in 1987 and completing the doctorate program of the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka City University, Shinya
Yamanaka moved to San Francisco to study at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease as a postdoctorate fellow. Using genetically-modified mice, he discovered a gene which plays an essential role in the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Dr. Yamanaka then began to devote his research to the field of ES cells. In 2006, he succeeded in
generating pluripotent stem cells with high proliferation and differentiating ability similar to ES cells by combining four genes from the skin cells of mice. He named the new cells"induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPS cells). Initially, there was concern about the safety of
the iPS cells, which contained four genes including oncogenes but in 2007 he was able to successfully generate oncogene-isolated iPS cells with three genes.

This research will benefit in understanding disease origin and developing new medicines. In the future, it can be applied to the field of regenerative medicine, in which patients' own cells will be able to be used to regenerate organs and other body parts.

Dr. Yamanaka's profile

Current position:
Professor and Director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, iCeMS of Kyoto University

Educational and professional history

March 1987
 Graduated Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine

March 1993
Awarded Ph.D. at Osaka City University Graduate School

April 1993
 Gladstone Institute, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco, Research Fellow

October 1996
 Appointed Assistant Professor, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine

December 1999
 Appointed Associate Professor, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

September 2003
 Appointed Professor, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

October 2004
 Appointed Professor, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University

October 2007
Appointed Professor, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University

January 2008
 Appointed Director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application,iCeMS, Kyoto University