2011G has been awarded jointly to: Professor James Alexander Thomson (USA), Director of Regenerative Biology at Morgridge Institute for Research, and Professor at the Department of Anatomy in the University of Wisconsin, USA, and Professor Shinya Yamanaka (Japan), Senior Investigator in stem cell biology of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Director of the Center for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research and Application (CiRA), and Professor at Kyoto University, Japan, and the University of California in San Francisco, USA, for their pioneering and seminal stem cell research. Professor James Thomson is the Director of Regenerative Biology at Morgridge Institute for Research and Professor at the University of Wisconsin. Having succeeded in isolating stem cells from non-human primates in 1995 and from human embryos in 1998, he made - in 2007 - the groundbreaking discovery that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) could be generated from human somatic cells. This important breakthrough has revitalized interest in stem cell biology, with many laboratories re-investigating the possible use of these cells in the modeling and treatment of human diseases. Professor Shinya Yamanaka is Senior Investigator in stem cell biology of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Director of the Center for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research and Application (CiRA) and professor at Kyoto University, Japan and the University of California in San Francisco, USA. Professor Yamanaka achieved a major breakthrough in 2006 when he was able to generate induced pluripotent stem cells from mouse adult fibroblasts. In 2007, he succeeded, independently of Professor Thomson, in reprogramming human adult skin cells into iPS cells. --More
