(born 1946) is a Japanese

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

famous for his pioneer research in single molecule biology, and made important contributions to single molecule fluorescence microscopy.2011 Society Awadees, Biophysical Society
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Contribution

Yanagida has been leading the development of single molecule detection techniques to study

molecular motors Molecular motors are natural (biological) or artificial molecular machines that are the essential agents of movement in living organisms. In general terms, a motor is a device that consumes energy in one form and converts it into motion or mech ...

, enzyme reactions,

protein dynamics Proteins are generally thought to adopt unique structures determined by their amino acid sequences. However, proteins are not strictly static objects, but rather populate ensembles of (sometimes similar) conformations. Transitions between these stat ...

, and

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...

since he succeeded in the direct observation of motion of single

F-actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of ov ...

filaments in the presence of myosin in 1984. His single molecule experiments designed to investigate how

thermal fluctuations In statistical mechanics, thermal fluctuations are random deviations of a system from its average state, that occur in a system at equilibrium.In statistical mechanics they are often simply referred to as fluctuations. All thermal fluctuations b ...

(noise) play a positive role in the unique operation of biological molecular machines allowing for flexible and adaptive biological systems including muscle and

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

.Professor Toshio Yanagida
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Biography

Yanagida was born in Hyogo, Japan, and received his doctorate in Engineering Science in 1976 from Osaka University. He was Professor of Bionics at the Faculty of Engineering Science, Osaka University from 1988 to 2010, and also Professor of

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

at the Osaka University Medical School from 1996 to 2010, where he served as Dean from 2002 to 2004. After retiring from this position and becoming Professor Emeritus, he has been Specially Appointed Professor at the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University and Director of RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center.

Honors and awards

For his outstanding contributions, Yanagida received numerous honors and awards including the 1998

Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy The is a prestigious honor conferred to two of the recipients of the Japan Academy Prize. Overviews It is awarded in two categories: humanities and natural sciences. The Emperor and Empress visit the awarding ceremony and present a vase to ...

, the 1998

Asahi Prize The , established in 1929, is an award presented by the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun'' and Asahi Shimbun Foundation to honor individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in the fields of arts and academics and have greatl ...

,Asahi Prize recipients
/ref> and also the 2011 US Genomic Award for Outstanding Investigator in the Field of Single Molecule. He was selected as a Person of Cultural Merit by the Government of Japan in 2013.

References

External links

Yanagida's Lab, Osaka University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanagida, Toshio Riken personnel Japanese biophysicists Japanese molecular biologists Japanese physiologists Japanese medical researchers Japanese biochemists Laureates of the Imperial Prize Academic staff of Osaka University Osaka University alumni People from Hyōgo Prefecture 1946 births Living people