The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to a Japanese scientist for the second year in a row for 2016. The laureate is Professor Yoshinori Osumi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology who received the award for the discovery of autophagy. Generally speaking, knowledge of autophagy is limited to researchers in biology related fields, therefore the achievement of Professor Osumi may not be understood immediately as compared to the work by Professor Satoshi Omura discovering ivermectin which prevents blindness in over 300,000 people every year.
The first observation of autophagy by Dr. Osumi occurred when budding yeast lacking a degradation enzyme contained in the vacuole were cultured in a nitrogen-free starvation medium. The key was successful observation of cytoplasmic components which are normally decomposed by vacuolar enzymes with a visible light microscope. In this genetically defected yeast, autophagy was activated in the starvation state, but recycling was suppressed because there was no enzymes for decomposing cellular waste proteins.“Auto” in autophagy means “self” in Greek