Professor NAMBA, Professor Emeritus FUTAI, and Professor SAKAGUCHI awarded Japan Academy Prize

On Monday, March 12, the Japan Academy announced the 2012 recipients of the Japan Academy Prize. The Japan Academy Prize [Nippon Gakushi-in], under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, accords special recognition to researchers with eminent records of academic and scientific achievement.

From Osaka University, Professor Keiichi NAMBA , Professor Emeritus Masamitsu Futai , and Professor Shimon SAKAGUCHI were awarded prizes. Professor NAMBA was also awarded Imperial Prize of the Academy.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony at The Japan Academy in Ueno, Tokyo, in June.

The achievements of the winners are as follows:

Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize

• " Clarification of Supra-molecular Structure and Function ," NAMBA Keiichi , Professor, Biophysics & Structural Biology, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences

Japan Academy Prize

• " Research on Mechanisms of Bioenergy Production and Conversion ," FUTAI Masamitsu , Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
• " Regulation of Immune Response by Regulatory T Cells ," SAKAGUCHI Shimon , Professor, Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center