SPEAKER: What is autophagy?
And why does the Nobel Prize winning
discovery of autophagy matter?
The 2016 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine
was awarded to Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi
from the Tokyo Institute of Technology
for his research on autophagy.
Professor Ohsumi uncovered
the autophagy mechanism
by carefully observing yeast
cells under a microscope.
Autophagy was discovered in yeast,
but also occurs in human cells
and has been linked to various diseases.
Using autophagy, cells can
capture, breakdown, and reuse
their own internal components.
This means the cell can
recycle its own components.
In human cells,
autophagy has been linked
to a number of cellular
processes and diseases,
such as development, bacterial
infection, aging, and cancer.
HITOSHI NAKATOGAWA: Hi,
I'm Hitoshi Nakatogawa.
ALEXANDER MAY: And I'm Alexander May
at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
HITOSHI NAKATOGAWA: We are the
instructors for this course.
Join us.
ALEXANDER MAY: And let's learn
the intriguing story and research
behind the 2016 Nobel Prize.
