Elly Margaret Tanaka (born 1965) is a

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and senior scientist at the

Research Institute of Molecular Pathology The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) is a biomedical research center, which conducts curiosity-driven basic research in the molecular life sciences. The IMP is located at the Vienna Biocenter in Vienna, Austria. The institute emplo ...

(IMP) in Vienna, Austria. Tanaka studies the molecular cell biology of

limb Limb may refer to: Science and technology *Limb (anatomy), an appendage of a human or animal *Limb, a large or main branch of a tree *Limb, in astronomy, the curved edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body, e.g. lunar limb *Limb, in botany, ...

and

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

regeneration Regeneration may refer to: Science and technology * Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs * Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis ...

as well as the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of regeneration.

Early life and education

Tanaka was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and obtained a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1987 and a PhD from the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

in 1993, where she had worked in the lab of

Marc W. Kirschner Marc Wallace Kirschner (born February 28, 1945) is an American cell biologist and biochemist and the founding chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. He is known for major discoveries in cell and developmental biolog ...

. She then became a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of

Jeremy Brockes Jeremy Patrick Brockes FRS (born 29 February 1948) is a British biochemist who worked as an MRC Research Professor at University College London until 2016. Early life and education Brockes was born in Haslemere, Surrey. He attended Winchester ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and Ludwig Institute.

Research and career

Tanaka started her own lab at the

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics __NOTOC__ The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) is a biology research institute located in Dresden, Germany. It was founded in 1998 and was fully operational in 2001. More than twenty research groups work in m ...

(MPI-CBG) in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

(Germany) in 1999. Her research focused on

axolotl The axolotl (; from nci, āxōlōtl ), ''Ambystoma mexicanum'', is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. Axolotls are unusual among amphibians in that they reach adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. Instea ...

spinal cord regeneration. In 2008, Tanaka became a professor at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) of the

Technische Universität Dresden TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

. She became director of the center in 2014, before becoming senior scientist at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna in 2016. The Mexican salamander species

is Tanaka's main model system for her research and is also working to translate them to mouse and human tissue. Using innovative molecular biology and microscopy methods, she identified those

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

that underlie the regeneration of limbs and the spinal cord. She is a member of the Editorial Board for ''

Developmental Cell ''Developmental Cell'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of cell and developmental biology. The journal was established in 2001, and is edited by Julie Sollier. It published by Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier, and its articles becomes open ...

''.

Awards and honours

Tanaka was elected a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

in 2015, of the

European Molecular Biology Organisation The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

in 2017, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2021. She was awarded the

Ernst Schering Prize The Ernst Schering Prize is awarded annually by the Ernst Schering Foundation for especially outstanding basic research in the fields of medicine, biology or chemistry anywhere in the world. Established in 1991 by the Ernst Schering Research Found ...

in 2017, highlighting Tanaka as "the leading expert in the field of regeneration biology". In 2018, she was awarded the

Erwin Schrödinger Prize The Erwin Schrödinger Prize (German: Erwin Schrödinger-Preis) is an annual award presented by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for lifetime achievement by Austrians in the fields of mathematics and natural sciences. The prize was established i ...

of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for lifetime achievements. In 2020, she was awarded the

FEBS The Federation of the European Biochemical Societies, frequently abbreviated FEBS, is an international scientific society promoting activities in biochemistry, molecular biology and related research areas in Europe and neighbouring regions. It was f ...

EMBO Embo ( gd, Eurabol, IPA: �iaɾəpɔɫ̪ is a village in the Highland Council Area in Scotland and the former postal county of Sutherland, about north-northeast of Dornoch. On 16 July 1988, Embo declared itself independent from the rest of the ...

Women in Science Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Elly Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Living people 1965 births 21st-century American biologists Harvard University alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni