Dr. Yoshinori Osumi Professor Emeritus of the National Institute for Basic Biology and SOKENDAI (the Graduate University for Advanced Studies) win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2016.

For 13 years, from April 1996 to March 2009, Professor Yoshinori Osumi presided over the Division of Molecular Cell Biology at the National Institute for Basic Biology, developing the field and elucidating the mechanisms of autophagy. Two of the four 'Key Publications' that the Nobel committee presented were published from his lab at NIBB.

Mizushima, N., Noda, T., Yoshimori, T., Tanaka, Y., Ishii, T., George, M.D., Klionsky, D.J., Ohsumi, M. and Ohsumi, Y. (1998). A protein conjugation system essential for autophagy. Nature 395, 395-398

Ichimura, Y., Kirisako T., Takao, T., Satomi, Y., Shimonishi, Y., Ishihara, N., Mizushima, N., Tanida, I., Kominami, E., Ohsumi, M., Noda, T. and Ohsumi, Y. (2000). A ubiquitin-like system mediates protein lipidation. Nature, 408, 488-492

Group photo of Division of Molecular Cell Biology at the National Institute for Basic Biology, April 2005