Yoshiki Sasai
Yoshiki Sasai ( Japanese 笹 井 芳 樹 , Sasai Yoshiki , born March 5, 1962 in Hyōgo , † August 5, 2014 in Kobe ) was a Japanese developmental biologist and physician . He was head of the Neurogenesis and Organogenesis Group (Sasai Lab) at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe and was known for developing organ-like tissue from stem cells .
Career and research topics
Sasai graduated from the Medical School of Kyoto University with his MD in 1986 . From 1986 to 1988 he trained as a specialist in general medicine and emergency medicine. He then turned to basic research and received his doctorate in 1993 with Shigetada Nakanishi at Kyoto University with a thesis on neurospecific transcription factors of the HES family. As a post-doctoral student he was at the UCLA School of Medicine with Edward M. De Robertis (* 1947). From 1996 he was assistant professor and from 1998 professor at the Medical Faculty of Kyoto University.
In his laboratory, Sasai examined the molecular and cellular basis of setting the course in neuronal morphogenesis . He succeeded in the formation of artificial retinas in vitro by allowing stem cells to develop not in culture dishes as usual, but floating freely in liquids, where they spontaneously formed spheres of around 3,000 cells, with retinal-like cells in eye-shaped protrusions. His group is also working on stem cells , which are supposed to provide dopamine-producing cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease , which is a result of the death of such cells.
He served on the editorial boards of Neuron, Development, Genesis, and Developmental Dynamics . In 2013 he received the Hans Sigrist Prize from the University of Bern .
Yoshiki Sasai came under criticism in 2014 because of a flawed study (stress-induced transition from normal to stem cells, STAP cell ) by his colleague Haruko Obokata, who was convicted of scientific misconduct in March 2014 by a RIKEN committee . Sasai was a co-author of the offending studies and was acquitted of scientific misconduct in the committee's report, but was accused of failing to monitor the published results. In early August 2014, Sasai was found hanged at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe.
Fonts
- Mototsugo Eiraku, Yoshiki Sasai et al .: Self-organized formation of polarized cortical tissues from ESCs and its active manipulation by extrinsic signals. In: Cell Stem Cell. Volume 3, No. 5, 2008, pp. 519-532, doi: 10.1016 / j.stem.2008.09.002
literature
- Arturo Alvarez-Buylla: Yoshiki Sasai (1962-2014). In: Nature . Volume 513, No. 7516, 2014, p. 34, doi: 10.1038 / 513034a
Web links
- Sasai Lab (English)
- Monya Baker: Human cortical neural cell balls. In: Nature Reports Stem Cells. November 3, 2008, doi: 10.1038 / stemcells.2008.147
Individual evidence
- ↑ 平 成 25 年度 上原 賞 受 賞 者 ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Mentor of disgraced STAP cell scientist commits suicide (English). Asahi Shimbun Digital, August 5, 2014
- ↑ Nature News, April 2, 2014: Stem-cell scientist found guilty of misconduct , accessed August 5, 2014.
- ↑ RP-Online on August 5, 2014: Japanese scandal researcher found dead , accessed on August 5, 2014.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sasai, Yoshiki |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 笹 井 芳 樹 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese developmental biologist and physician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 5, 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hyogo |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th August 2014 |
| Place of death | Kobe |