The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm on Monday announced that Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University will share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 with Dr. John B. Gurdon of Cambridge University. We heartily congratulate Dr. Yamanaka on winning the world's most well-known prize. It is hoped that his achievement will eventually help people suffering from difficult-to-cure diseases or debilitating injuries to live normal lives. His winning of the Nobel Prize will also serve as an incentive for Japanese scientists in the fields of basic medicine and biology, and even encourage ordinary citizens to take a greater interest in science.
Dr. Gurdon and Dr. Yamanaka are cited for their discovery that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all the cell types — each carrying out a specific task — that form the body. The discovery challenged the dogma that the specialization of a cell is irreversible and has forced the rewriting of textbooks. The two scientists showed the importance of questioning a prevailing dogma and of carrying out trials and errors with carefully thought-out hypothesis.
In 1962, Dr. Gurdon removed the cell nucleus from a frog's egg and injected into the egg a nucleus from a mature cell of a tadpole's intestine. The egg developed into a tadpole. He eventually succeeded in producing adult frogs by using the method, proving that the nucleus of a mature, specialized cell can be returned to an immature cell with pluripotent capability of developing into all types of tissues. His research led to the cloning of mammals.