, was a Japanese

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 ...

physiologist 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 a ...

, and

military physician The term military medicine has a number of potential connotations. It may mean: *A medical specialty, specifically a branch of occupational medicine attending to the medical risks and needs (both preventive and interventional) of sold ...

. He discovered

Oxygenases An oxygenase is any enzyme that oxidizes a substrate by transferring the oxygen from molecular oxygen O2 (as in air) to it. The oxygenases form a class of oxidoreductases; their EC number is EC 1.13 or EC 1.14. Discoverers Oxygenases were disco ...

at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases,

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

in 1955. Citing his "outstanding and pioneering contributions to biomedical sciences and

enzymology Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

," the

Wolf Foundation The Wolf Foundation is a private not-for-profit organization in Israel established in 1975 by Ricardo Wolf, a German-born Jewish Cuban inventor and former Cuban ambassador to Israel. Ricardo Wolf Ricardo Wolf, the founder of the Wolf Foundat ...

awarded Hayaishi the 1986

Wolf Prize in Medicine The Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The P ...

"for his discovery of the oxygenase enzymes and elucidation of their structure and biological importance". Hayaishi was President of

International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) is an international non-governmental organisation concerned with biochemistry and molecular biology. Formed in 1955 as the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), the union ...

from 1973 to 1976.

Biography

Hayaishi was born in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, in 1920. He completed his medical degree in 1942 from

Osaka University , abbreviated as , is a public research university located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of Japan's former Imperial Universities and a Designated National University listed as a "Top Type" university in the Top Global University Project. ...

. After serving as a medical officer in the Japanese Navy for 3 years, he joined the Institute of Microbial Diseases, Osaka University and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1949. After working with

Arthur Kornberg Arthur Kornberg (March 3, 1918 – October 26, 2007) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for the discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic ac ...

at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health and

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, Hayaishi served as a research group leader or a professor at various research institutions in the US and Japan including

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

, and led approximately 600 graduate students in his life including

Yasutomi Nishizuka was a prominent Japanese biochemist and made important contributions to the understanding of molecular mechanism of signal transduction across the cell membrane. In 1977, he discovered protein kinase C, which plays significant roles in a varie ...

Tasuku Honjo is a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist. He won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is best known for his identification of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). He is also known for his molecular identification o ...

, and

Shigetada Nakanishi Shigetada Nakanishi (born January 7, 1942) is a Japanese biochemist and neuroscientist. Both a medical doctor and biomedical researcher by training, Nakanishi is the director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute and professor emeritus at Kyoto Unive ...

. More than 100 his pupils became professors at various universities in Japan.

Research

Hayaishi, along with group members, is recognized for his great contributions to biomedical sciences and enzymology, especially the discovery of

group of enzymes. These enzymes are widely distributed in nature and represent a unique group of respiratory enzymes that catalyze the direct incorporation of molecular oxygen into various substrates. Hayaishi is also known for his discovery of the sleep-inducing action of

Prostaglandin D2 Prostaglandin D2 (or PGD2) is a prostaglandin that binds to the receptor PTGDR (DP1), as well as CRTH2 (DP2). It is a major prostaglandin produced by mast cells – recruits Th2 cells, eosinophils, and basophils. In mammalian organs, large amou ...

Recognition

Hayaishi was awarded several honors including, the Asahi Prize (1964), the Japan Academy Prize (1967), the Order of Culture (1972), the Louis and Bert Freedman Foundation Award from the New York Academy of Sciences (1976), the

(1986), and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the World Federation of Sleep Research Societies (1999). Hayaishi was also elected as a foreign member of several academies, as well as a member of the Japan Academy (MJA) in 1974. In 1984, the honorary citizenship of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

was awarded to Hayaishi.

References

External links

The Wolf Prize in Medicine in 1986 (detail)

A Profile of Osamu Hayaishi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayaishi, Osamu 1920 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Japanese physicians 21st-century Japanese physicians Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Japanese biochemists Japanese military doctors Japanese physiologists Kyoto University faculty Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the Japan Academy Osaka University alumni Osaka University faculty Recipients of the Order of Culture University of Tokyo faculty Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates American emigrants to Japan Presidents of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology