Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.achievement.org:80/achiever/shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d/","20170621213148","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1498080708"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content="In 2007, the world of science was stunned to learn that a lone researcher, working in a small, underfunded laboratory in Kyoto, Japan had made a historic breakthrough. For a decade, the debate over human stem cell research had pitted the ethical concerns of religious leaders and policymakers against the demands of medical research. Human stem cell research has long offered the promise of curing and preventing otherwise untreatable diseases and injuries, but the only pluripotent stem cells available for experimentation were those harvested from fetal tissue or from discarded human embryos. Moral objections to this research led a number of governments — including those of Japan and the United States — to impose stringent restrictions on further research. When Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of the University of Kyoto succeeded in converting the skin cells of adult mice back into a stem cell-like pluripotent state, the news spread like wildfire through the scientific world. Everywhere, the same question sprang to mind. Would Yamanaka's technique work with humans as well as mice? By the end of the year, Yamanaka had duplicated the results with human cells. His discovery was hailed by scientists and religious leaders as a breakthrough that overcame the moral objection to stem cell research."/> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In 2007, the world of science was stunned to learn that a lone researcher, working in a small, underfunded laboratory in Kyoto, Japan had made a historic breakthrough.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">For a decade, the debate over human stem cell research had pitted the ethical concerns of religious leaders and policymakers against the demands of medical research. Human stem cell research has long offered the promise of curing and preventing otherwise untreatable diseases and injuries, but the only pluripotent stem cells available for experimentation were those harvested from fetal tissue or from discarded human embryos. Moral objections to this research led a number of governments — including those of Japan and the United States — to impose stringent restrictions on further research.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2">When Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of the University of Kyoto succeeded in converting the skin cells of adult mice back into a stem cell-like pluripotent state, the news spread like wildfire through the scientific world. Everywhere, the same question sprang to mind. Would Yamanaka's technique work with humans as well as mice? By the end of the year, Yamanaka had duplicated the results with human cells. His discovery was hailed by scientists and religious leaders as a breakthrough that overcame the moral objection to stem cell research.</span></p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/yamanaka-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In 2007, the world of science was stunned to learn that a lone researcher, working in a small, underfunded laboratory in Kyoto, Japan had made a historic breakthrough.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">For a decade, the debate over human stem cell research had pitted the ethical concerns of religious leaders and policymakers against the demands of medical research. Human stem cell research has long offered the promise of curing and preventing otherwise untreatable diseases and injuries, but the only pluripotent stem cells available for experimentation were those harvested from fetal tissue or from discarded human embryos. Moral objections to this research led a number of governments — including those of Japan and the United States — to impose stringent restrictions on further research.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2">When Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of the University of Kyoto succeeded in converting the skin cells of adult mice back into a stem cell-like pluripotent state, the news spread like wildfire through the scientific world. Everywhere, the same question sprang to mind. Would Yamanaka's technique work with humans as well as mice? By the end of the year, Yamanaka had duplicated the results with human cells. His discovery was hailed by scientists and religious leaders as a breakthrough that overcame the moral objection to stem cell research.</span></p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/yamanaka-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/>  <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://s.w.org/"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20170621213148cs_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/dist/styles/main-2a51bc91cb.css"> </head> <body class="achiever-template-default single single-achiever postid-36766 shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d sidebar-primary">  <header class="main-header bg-black"> <div class="search-container clearfix"> <div class="container"> <a class="brand" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/"> <img class="logo" 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</div> </div> </header> <div class="" role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/yamanaka-Feature-Image-2800x1120-380x152.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/yamanaka-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/yamanaka-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D.</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Nobel Prize in Medicine</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-36766 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-medical-research careers-scientist careers-surgeon-medical-doctor"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">Failure is a beginning of success. Negative results gave me many insights into new directions.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Pioneer of Embryonic Stem Cell Research</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 4, 1962 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_36853" style="width: 698px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36853 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36853 lazyload" alt="" width="698" height="744" data-sizes="(max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd.jpg 698w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd-357x380.jpg 357w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">In the 1970s, young Shinya Yamanaka attended Tennoji Junior High and High School in Osaka, Japan. In 1981, he was accepted to Kobe University’s School of Medicine, where he went on to study sports medicine, specializing in orthopedic surgery, and graduating in 1987.</figcaption></figure><p>Shinya Yamanaka was born in Osaka, Japan, where his father owned a small factory. Surrounded by machinery, young Shinya developed an enthusiasm for all technical subjects. In school, he was drawn to science; he was also an enthusiastic athlete. His passion for judo resulted in a number of broken bones and frequent visits to the orthopedist. Although he ultimately earned a black belt in judo, these experiences also awakened his interest in medicine. After graduating from a high school attached to the university in Osaka, he earned a medical degree at Kobe University. He completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at National Osaka Hospital, but became frustrated with his lack of dexterity as a surgeon. He decided to pursue a career in research instead, and enrolled at Osaka University, earning a Ph.D. in pharmacology. In graduate school, a chance reading of a paper on genetically engineered mice, so-called “knockout mice,” led him to the study of gene replacement. By eliminating individual genes from the mouse genome, scientists were able to learn the function of each gene. Yamanaka was eager to work with this new technology, but there were no institutions pursuing this research in Japan. He wrote to 30 universities and laboratories in the United States, searching for a postdoctoral fellowship in the field, before finding a place at the University of California, San Francisco.</p> <figure id="attachment_36855" style="width: 450px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36855 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36855 lazyload" alt="" width="450" height="589" data-sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes.jpg 450w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes-290x380.jpg 290w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">After completing medical school, Yamanaka followed with a residency at National Osaka Hospital. Working at the hospital, he found that his surgical skills were not as he expected and lost confidence in his ability. Yamanaka decided to change his goal from becoming a surgeon to becoming a basic scientist working to identify the cause and cure for rare diseases. In 1989, after completing his residency, rather than practicing as an orthopedic surgeon, he pursued a doctoral degree in pharmacology at Osaka City University’s Graduate School of Medicine.</figcaption></figure><p>Yamanaka was thrilled with the research opportunities he enjoyed in the United States. When he was offered an assistant professorship at Osaka, he returned to Japan with a cage full of genetically engineered mice for experimentation. Unfortunately, he lacked the staff to do much more than look after his research animals, without pursuing any new projects. By this time, Yamanaka had married and started a family, but his professional life was stalled. His situation at Osaka was especially disappointing because he was eager to apply knockout mouse technology to the newly emerging field of stem cell research. Stem cells are the undifferentiated cells found in the embryos of all animals. As the embryonic creature gestates, these cells differentiate, becoming the cells that make up bone, blood, nerves and other tissues. At the close of the 20th century, stem cell research in both Japan and the United States was encumbered with a major ethical controversy. The best sources of human stem cells were the embryos discarded by fertility clinics, but destroying human embryos for research purposes struck government leaders in both countries as morally unacceptable. In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush explicitly barred federal funding for any research involving the creation of new stem cell lines from human embryos. In Japan, the rules regarding research with embryonic tissue were even more stringent. Yamanaka considered the possibility that the cells of an adult animal could be reprogrammed to their embryonic, pluripotent state.</p> <figure id="attachment_36861" style="width: 1170px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-36861 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-36861 size-full lazyload" width="1170" height="865" data-sizes="(max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3.jpg 1170w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3-380x281.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3-760x562.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Fascinated by the emerging gene-engineering technologies being demonstrated in mice, especially the knockout mouse technology, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka decided to become a postdoctoral fellow in the United States, where the technology was being widely used in many laboratories. Dr. Yamanaka applied to as many laboratories as possible and was offered a position in Thomas Innerarity’s lab at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in San Francisco. In 1996, Dr. Yamanaka became an assistant professor at Osaka City University Medical School. In 1999, he was appointed associate professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology, and became full professor in 2003. Dr. Yamanaka took his current position as a professor at Kyoto University in 2004 and was appointed as a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in 2007. Since 2008, he has been director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, with the mission of using iPS cells for new medical therapies.</figcaption></figure><p>Frustrated with his lack of support at Osaka, Yamanaka considered returning to medical practice, when the opportunity arose to lead his own laboratory at another university in nearby Nara. He knew that if his new laboratory were to thrive, he would need to attract first-rate graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a unique and intriguing research project. One day, while visiting a friend’s fertility clinic, Dr. Yamanaka found himself gazing at human embryos through a microscope and became convinced that an alternative to the use of embryonic tissue in stem cell research must be found. While most contemporary stem cell research involved controlling the process by which the stem cells differentiated into other cell types, Yamanaka decided he would pursue the opposite course, reprogramming the cells of an adult animal to return to their embryonic pluripotent state.</p> <figure id="attachment_36860" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36860 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36860 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1281" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67-380x214.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67-760x427.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">January 9, 2008: Shinya Yamanaka, a professor of Kyoto University, attends a press conference in Tokyo. In 2006, Yamanaka published “Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Embryonic and Adult Fibroblast Cultures by Defined Factors” in <i>Cell</i>, which identified the four factors needed to induce pluripotency in mouse cells. Likewise, his 2007 publication, “Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Fibroblasts by Defined Factors,” also published in <i>Cell</i>, showed it was possible to produce human iPS cells. The article has had a tremendous impact; as of December 2010, it had been cited over 2,000 times. Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis S. Collins, said that when he first read Dr. Shinya Yamanaka’s 2007 publication, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end because he could see it would transform the field of stem cell research. (Shizuo Kambayashi)</figcaption></figure><p>The idea seemed improbable to most of his peers, and the chances of success marginal, but the idea was so unusual, his lab attracted exceptionally talented students. Identifying the combination of genes that would convert adult cells back into their pluripotent state could require testing hundreds of possible combinations, the work of decades. Working 12 to 16 hours a day for months on end, Yamanaka reviewed the existing literature, and tried to identify the most promising combinations. Balancing meticulous research with informed intuition, he compiled a list of the 24 most likely combinations, and decided to test those first. In 2006, only five years into his project, he found a combination of four genes that converted the skin cells of an adult mouse back to their pluripotent state. His hunch had paid off, saving his team years of work.</p> <figure id="attachment_36869" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36869 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36869 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">July 2008: Awards Council member and pioneering geneticist Dr. James A. Thomson presents the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award to Dr. Shinya Yamanaka at the 2008 Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies in Kona, Hawaii. Dr. Yamanaka’s many awards and honors include the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, the Millennium Technology Award, the Shaw Prize, the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, the Gairdner International Award, the Robert Koch Award, and the March of Dimes Prize.</figcaption></figure><p>The news of Dr. Yamanaka’s discovery, quickly confirmed by other laboratories working independently, spread like wildfire through the scientific world. Everywhere, the same question sprang to mind. Would Yamanaka’s technique work with human cells as well as those of mice? An additional concern arose. Of the four gene combinations Yamanaka had used, two have been implicated in cancer. One of these has a relatively weak statistical relationship with cancer, but the other, c-Myc, is a well-known cancer gene.</p> <figure id="attachment_36867" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36867 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36867 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3426" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368-506x760.jpg 506w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">December 10, 2012: Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf presents Professor Shinya Yamanaka with the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine during the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall. (Jonas Ekstromer/Corbis)</figcaption></figure><p>Repeating the process with human cells posed additional difficulties, including the possibility of an increased risk for cancer, but Yamanaka had become adept at overcoming difficulties and accomplishing his research goals at record speed. Within a year, Yamanaka had duplicated the results with human cells. In the process, he learned that c-Myc could be omitted from the combination, generating the same results with a greatly decreased risk of cancer. His accomplishment was recognized with honors from governments around the world, including the Osaka Science Prize in Japan, and the Lasker Award in the United States. In 2012 he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.</p> <figure id="attachment_36868" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36868 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36868 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3426" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788-506x760.jpg 506w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">December 10, 2012:  Professor Shinya Yamanaka poses with his Nobel Medal after the awards ceremony. (Corbis)</figcaption></figure><p>Dr. Yamanaka now divides his time between professorships at Kyoto University and the University of California’s Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. A vigorous and athletic man, he continues to work long days, relishes his scientific pursuits and peppers his conversation with jokes in a way that his colleagues find more American than Japanese. Still an enthusiastic athlete, he enjoys a brisk run or swim between marathon sessions in the laboratory.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 2008 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.scientist">Scientist</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.medical-research">Medical Research</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.surgeon-medical-doctor">Surgeon/Medical Doctor</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 4, 1962 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">In 2007, the world of science was stunned to learn that a lone researcher, working in a small, underfunded laboratory in Kyoto, Japan had made a historic breakthrough.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">For a decade, the debate over human stem cell research had pitted the ethical concerns of religious leaders and policymakers against the demands of medical research. Human stem cell research has long offered the promise of curing and preventing otherwise untreatable diseases and injuries, but the only pluripotent stem cells available for experimentation were those harvested from fetal tissue or from discarded human embryos. Moral objections to this research led a number of governments — including those of Japan and the United States — to impose stringent restrictions on further research.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2">When Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of the University of Kyoto succeeded in converting the skin cells of adult mice back into a stem cell-like pluripotent state, the news spread like wildfire through the scientific world. Everywhere, the same question sprang to mind. Would Yamanaka’s technique work with humans as well as mice? By the end of the year, Yamanaka had duplicated the results with human cells. His discovery was hailed by scientists and religious leaders as a breakthrough that overcame the moral objection to stem cell research.</span></p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/eHXUrYHvAg8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_19_52_12.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_19_52_12.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Pioneer of Embryonic Stem Cell Research</h2> <div class="sans-2">Kailua-Kona, Hawaii</div> <div class="sans-2">July 6, 2008</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>(At the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Dr. Yamanaka participated in a panel discussion of genetics in medicine. An excerpt from his remarks on that occasion precedes the text of this interview.)</b></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2"><b>Dr. Yamanaka, you’ve been exploring a new form of stem cell research. How did you become involved in this work, and what do you see as the promise of stem cell research?</b></span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/V3Dr09PLFZ4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.mov.00_01_12_01.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.mov.00_01_12_01.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Shinya Yamanaka: It may be surprising, but I was a surgeon, like 20 years ago.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And I found I was terrible in the operating room.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So I thought, “Well, I won’t help people by doing this!” That’s why I decided to move to basic science, and I hope it’s working. So, for the last — let me see — for the last 12 years I have been working on embryonic stem cells, ES cells.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And I think probably… so please raise your hand if you know about ES cells.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Oh, not all. Okay.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Embryonic stem cells are stem cells which scientists generated from fertilized eggs. It was first derived from the mouse embryo in 1981, so 27 years ago.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>ES cells have two properties, very important properties.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The first one: you can increase — you can culture — ES cells as much as you want, almost forever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The second, very important point of ES cells is that you can induce, you can make any types of cells from ES cells, including cardiac cells, neural cells, blood cells, and also germ cells. That means you can prepare any cells, in any quantity, any time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Because of that, mouse embryonic stem cells — ES cells — gave rise to a new technology called “knockout mouse” technology, which is a super technology in understanding the gene function. And as you may know, knockout mouse technology was awarded the Nobel Prize last year.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Then in 1998, <span class="s2">Dr. James Thomson</span> developed ES cells from human blastocysts. That opened up a completely new way in regenerative medicine.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_36888" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36888 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36888 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1445" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065-380x241.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065-760x482.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">At the Academy of Achievement’s 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kona-Kailua, Hawaii,  journalist Kathleen Matthews moderated a panel of the world’s leading authorities on genetic revolution: Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the successful effort to sequence the human genome; James A. Thomson, one of the first scientists to successfully culture human stem cells; Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, who succeeded in reverting adult human skin cells to their stem cell state; Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the NIH; and neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson.</figcaption></figure><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Because of his success, we have new opportunities to prepare cardiac cells and neural cells to transplant into patients. So when I saw his paper, I thought, “Wow! It’s just amazing.” But after that, I realized some problems with human ES cells.</span></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/g_Ds1Dhr_0Q?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.mov.00_02_21_11.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.mov.00_02_21_11.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">You have to use human embryos to prepare human ES cells.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And some people do not like that idea, including the president of your country.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And also, because ES cells are not the patients’ own cells, we have to deal with immune rejections after transplantation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So we decided to start a new project of our laboratory, in which we tried to generate ES-like stem cells, not from embryos, but from patients’ own cells. We thought the project would be very, very risky, challenging, and it would take 20 or 30 years.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But it turned out it took only five years to achieve that goal in a mouse.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So we were able to publish the generation of new stem cells — which were designated “iPS cells,” induced pluripotent stem cells<span class="Apple-converted-space"> —</span> from mouse skin cells in 2006. And last year we were able to translate that technology to the human.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So we and James Thomson, almost at the same time, were able to report that we can make ES-like stem cells without using embryos.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We can convert a patient’s skin cells directly to ES-like stem cells.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_36887" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36887 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36887 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2008: Academy members Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, and Dr. Elias Zerhouni join in a panel discussion on the genetic revolution during the International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.</figcaption></figure><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Could you clarify the significance of ES cells for us?</b></span></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/5oJfO9g5OmQ?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_05_17_23.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_05_17_23.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Shinya Yamanaka: ES cells have two important properties.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The first one: we can proliferate — we can culture ES cells as much as we want.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So from a single ES cell we can have a million, billion or more ES cells within a certain period of time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The other important property of ES cells is something called pluripotency.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So pluripotency means that we can make any types of cells that exist in our body.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We have more than 200 types of cells in our body.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So we can make those 200 types of cells from ES cells.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So that’s the second important property of ES cells.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Let’s take a moment to really define what your stem cell breakthrough is, and we’ll go from there to the impact it has on the future of medicine. Instead of using embryonic stem cells, you have taken skin cells, and what have you done with them?</b></span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/eLv4GZGEUwk?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_13_38_29.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_13_38_29.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Because of this technology, iPS technology, now we can prepare many types of human cells. For example, heart cells — cardiac cells — or neural cells from patients. So you can easily imagine that without this technology, it’s impossible to take cardiac cells from patients who have some kinds of cardiac diseases. If the patient dies, we may be able to get a small amount of cardiac cells from that patient, but those cells do not proliferate, so we cannot increase the number. But with this technology, all we need is a small piece of skin from that patient, and by making iPS cells, we can increase the number of cells as much as we want. And then we can make cardiac cells from those iPS cells. So I think for the first time in the history of medicine, we now have an opportunity to prepare many, many cardiac or neural cells directly from patients, and those cells should be very, very useful, to understand why those patients become sick. And to search for very effective drugs for that patient, and also to study — to predict — any side effect for that particular patient. So that is the most beautiful approach — I mean application — of this iPS cell technology.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_36884" style="width: 2130px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36884 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36884 lazyload" alt="" width="2130" height="1198" data-sizes="(max-width: 2130px) 100vw, 2130px" data-srcset="/web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4.jpg 2130w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4-380x214.jpg 380w, /web/20170621213148im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4-760x427.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2016: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka and Dr. Bruce Conklin, a senior investigator at Gladstone. In a study published in the journal <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,</em> Dr. Yamanaka and his colleagues at the Gladstone Institutes found a way to increase the efficiency of stem cell reprogramming through research on a rare genetic disease. The scientists started with a very different goal: to create a cellular model to study fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). This extremely rare genetic disease causes muscle, tendons, and ligaments to turn into bone, earning it the nickname “stone man syndrome.” It is caused by a mutation in the ACVR1 gene, which over-activates a cellular signaling process that is important for embryo development and involves a protein called BMP. Surprisingly, the scientists discovered that they could create more iPSCs from cells taken from FOP patients than those taken from healthy individuals. Creating iPSCs from patient cells carrying genetic mutations is not only useful for disease modeling, but also offers new insights into the reprogramming process. (Gladstone Institutes)</figcaption></figure><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Dr. Yamanaka, many of the scientists we’ve spoken with say that failure is the biggest teacher. Have you experienced that in your career?</b></span></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/8ivIkXCzXT0?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_06_38_00.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_06_38_00.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Shinya Yamanaka: I was an orthopedic surgeon, and my first failure was that I was not good at doing surgery, and that failure gave me an opportunity to move to basic science.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Then my first major was pharmacology, and in pharmacology we only use many inhibitors and stimulators, all just drugs. And any drug cannot be 100 percent specific and 100 percent effective.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So although I did many, many experiments, I did not obtain the answer, because<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the drugs I used weren’t specific enough. So that was kind of my second failure in my career.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But that second failure got me interested in knockout mice, mouse technology. So I think failure is important in my career.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><b>In science, because it’s based on experimentation, it seems that scientists rely on failure, not only to tell them what not to do, but what to do first.</b></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Shinya Yamanaka: I agree, yes.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2"><b>Did you start working with stem cells in graduate school?</b></span></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621213148if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/8kRyZll4RJI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_12_39_05.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-Shinya-2008-MasterEdit.00_12_39_05.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="p1">Shinya Yamanaka: In my Ph.D. school, I didn’t work on stem cells.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I just worked on basic pharmacology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But by doing pharmacology, I got very interested in so-called “knockout mouse” technology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Knockout mouse is a way to study the function of genes. You know, both human and mouse have approximately 20,000 genes. With knockout mouse technology, we can select one gene out of those 20,000 genes, and completely destroy that one particular gene so that we can understand the function of that particular gene. I got very interested in that technology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was 1992 or 1993 when I graduated from my Ph.D. school. So I decided to study — I decided to learn about knockout mouse technology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But at that time in Japan, only a few scientists were working on knockout mouse technology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That’s why I decided to move to the States, San Francisco.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Did you already have a position lined up in San Francisco?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, I became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in San Francisco.</p> <p><strong>What brought you to that particular university?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Usually to find a job in the States — from Japan — usually you have to ask your professor in Japan to recommend some place. But unfortunately, at that time, my professor — my mentor in Japan — did not know any labs working on knockout mice. So I did not get any good recommendations. So I had to apply for many positions, which I learned from scientific journals such as <em>Nature</em> and <em>Science</em>. I applied to — I forget — like 20 or 30 different universities and laboratories in the States. And UCSF — University of California at San Francisco — was the first to give me an opportunity. That was why I ended up coming to San Francisco.</p> <p><strong>What was your next move after San Francisco?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: After finishing my post-doc training in San Francisco, I went back to Osaka in 1996, and I was lucky to get an assistant professor position in the same laboratory where I got my Ph.D. But compared to my scientific career in the States, in San Francisco, I had a hard time after going back to Japan, because the funding was not good enough back in Osaka. And at that time I only had a few scientists around me who I can discuss with. So I had a hard time in the first two or three years after I went back to Japan, Osaka.</p> <p><strong>How did you cope with these difficulties after you went back to Japan?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I really had hard times, so I was about to quit doing science. I was about to go back to clinics, but again, I was lucky to find another position, in Nara. Nara is very close to Osaka. It’s only one hour by car. There’s another university in Nara, and I was lucky enough to find a position as an associate professor over there. The funding was much better, and the scientific atmosphere was much better over there. That means there are many, many good scientists in that university in Nara. So without that promotion, probably I [would have] quit my scientific career.</p> <p><strong>You’ve mentioned luck, more than once.</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yeah. I have been very lucky.</p> <p><strong>Did you ever see being a doctor as a fallback plan, if other things didn’t work out?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, because I had a medical license. Although I’m not so good at seeing patients, because I only did two-year residency in orthopedic surgeon. I think having a medical license is kind of a backup. I can always go back to clinics and do a training again. That did help me to do some very risky projects in science.</p> <p><strong>Where did you take these risks? Were they in the lab? How was risk important in what you were doing in the lab?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: In order to achieve something, it’s very important that it should be very risky, because if it’s not risky, that means it’s very easy, many people can achieve that. But if you really want to solve very tough questions, or very difficult goals, you really have to take risks.</p> <p><strong>In your field, what is a risk? Could you give us an example?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: For the last ten years or so I have been working on stem cells, especially embryonic stem cells, ES cells. When I started working on ES cells, most people were trying to generate some kind of cells such as cardiac cells or neurocells from ES cells. So that kind of project was not so risky, because many people are trying to do that. To me, at that time, the most risky project was the reverse. Instead of making some special cells from ES cells, I wanted to make ES cells from, like, skin cells. So it’s the opposite direction, and I knew it would be very risky. The chance is very small.</p> <p><strong>Did you find more collaboration in the lab at Nara than at Osaka?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes. In Osaka I almost worked by myself. I used many, many mice. I had almost 1,000 mice for my own project, and I had to take care of all of them by myself. So it was a lot of work. After I moved to Nara, I had many, many technicians and students who helped me. So I was not alone, that’s very important for me.</p> <p><strong>Did the direction of your work change when you came to the second lab?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: When I went to my second lab, in Nara, it was my first time to be the so-called “principal investigator.” So I became independent for the first time in my scientific career. That means I will have to have many students and many post-docs, so I thought I really have to have some wonderful research project in my own lab to attract as many people as possible. So I thought what the goal should be, and I thought making stem cells from patients’ own cells should be my goal. That was the beginning of my full research.</p> <p><strong>Did it attract students as you’d hoped?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Actually it worked, yes. I got more then 20 or 30 applicants that year. I could only afford three students, so I was able to select the three best students out of those 30 applicants, and they did very well.</p> <p><strong>The dominant trend in research at the time was trying to make different kinds of cells from stem cells. It’s surprising to hear that there was so much interest in your work, when you were trying to do the reverse, make stem cells from ordinary cells. Did it surprise you that you would have that kind of response?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Well no, actually. I thought that kind of idea should attract many young scientists.</p> <p><strong>In these induced pluripotent stem cells, iPS cells, how do you maintain pluripotency, and why is it important?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: iPS cells and ES cells are indistinguishable in many aspects. We have good conditions for mouse and human ES cells to maintain pluripotency. We can use exactly the same conditions to maintain mouse and human iPS cells. So it is not so difficult. Pluripotency is the most important property of ES and iPS cells, because with the pluripotency, we can make many types of cells from stem cells.</p> <p><strong>Can you describe the process of reprogramming adult cells to revert to an embryonic state?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: It’s very simple. All we have to do is to put three genes — namely Oct-3/4, SOX2 and Klf4 — into adult skin cells, and those three genes can convert skin cells into stem cells.</p> <p><strong>When we read about your work a few months ago, you were using four genes, weren’t you? How did you get it down to three?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: That’s a good point. Originally we thought four genes are required and one of the four genes is very dangerous because it’s c-Myc. It’s a famous cancer-causing gene. By modifying our protocol, we were able to omit the usage of c-Myc. So now we only need three genes, not four genes.</p> <p><strong>A couple of months ago, wasn’t it thought that two of the genes were perhaps cancer-causing? Is it only the one gene?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, actually. One of the three genes, Klf4, had some relationship with cancer, but compared to c-Myc, the risk is much, much smaller.</p> <p><strong>Now that it’s only three genes, has it reduced this risk?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes.</p> <p><strong>So it’s gone from a 50/50 ratio to one out of three?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yeah.</p> <p><strong>Dr. Yamanaka, we’d like to ask a few questions about your childhood. Where were you born and what was your childhood like?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I was born in Osaka, Japan. It was 45 years ago. My father has a small factory in Osaka, and we lived next to his factory, so I was surrounded by many types of machines. Even as a child, my hobby was using those machines. I was a kind of technical person from the very beginning.</p> <p><strong>Did you have any brothers and sisters?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, I have a sister. She is an English teacher in Japan.</p> <p><strong>Is she older or younger?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: She’s seven years older than I am.</p> <p><strong>When you were growing up, did you get a lot of encouragement from your parents and your family?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes. My father and my mother encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do. That was very good for me. You know, I was a doctor before I moved to basic science. I didn’t have any physicians in my family, but since my father told me I can do whatever I want, that was why I decided to… I decided to be a doctor.</p> <p><strong>Growing up in Osaka, did you like school or did you struggle with academics?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I liked school pretty much. I liked to study, and I also liked to play some sports. I played judo. It’s a traditional Japanese sport. So yeah, I liked my school pretty much.</p> <p><strong>Did you gravitate towards math and science at an early age? Did you enjoy reading?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I remember I liked math and science much better than reading.</p> <p><strong>Were there any books in particular that you really liked as a young person?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I remember I read many books about physicians. Not a novel, but a real story. I was very interested in how physicians were trying to help patients.</p> <p><strong>When did you decide to study medicine? Was it something you decided in university?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Even when I was a high school student I wanted to be a physician. That was because, as I mentioned, I played judo. And I got injured so many times — I fractured myself more than ten times — so I saw an orthopedic surgeon so many times. It was very natural for me to become a doctor.</p> <p><strong>Were your parents supportive of your ambitions?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, they were very supportive. My father had a small company, and I was the only boy in the family. It’s kind of surprising he didn’t want me to take over his job. Instead, he encouraged me to be a doctor.</p> <p><strong>Was that typical in Japan at the time?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: No, I don’t think so. Many fathers want at least one of their boys to take over his own company. It’s very typical in Japan. But he knew how difficult it is to run a small company. He thought I would not be good at running a company, so instead he encouraged me to be a doctor.</p> <p><strong>Besides your parents, were there others who supported you when you were growing up? In the university, or perhaps a judo coach?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yeah. I remember especially my judo coach. He was very supportive.</p> <p><strong>Was it really because of all of these broken bones from judo that you thought of becoming an orthopedic surgeon?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes, just a very simple reason.</p> <p><strong>Didn’t you play rugby, too?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Rugby, I played only three years. I played judo almost 15 years. I have a black belt.</p> <p><strong>Was this a particular type of judo?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Well, I don’t know how much you know about judo, but it’s like wrestling. There’s only one type of judo.</p> <p><strong>Did you think that from a very early age you were always destined to be in science?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: When I was a junior high school student, I was very interested in science. At that time, I wanted to become a scientist as well. After I went to senior high school, being a doctor was my dream, so I didn’t imagine I would be a scientist.</p> <p><strong>And now you’re one of the most famous scientists in the world. Did you go to university in Osaka?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: No. Actually, I did not graduate from Osaka University. I graduated from Kobe University. It’s like two hours by car from Osaka to Kobe.</p> <p><strong>Now you’re working in San Francisco again. Was there an incentive for you to leave Japan? Was it simply the opportunity to work in the lab in San Francisco?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I did my post-doc training in San Francisco, and I’m very grateful to the city of San Francisco and the institute where I did my post-doc training. So it was kind of a dream to come back to San Francisco, to that institute. That’s the main reason.</p> <p><strong>Were there any added benefits in moving to San Francisco? Was there something that was missing from the labs in Japan?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Because of my family, it’s very difficult to completely move from Japan to San Francisco, so now I have two laboratories, one in Japan and one in San Francisco. The one in Japan, in Kyoto, is much, much bigger, so right now I can only stay in San Francisco a few days every month. I have to commute every month.</p> <p><strong>Has your life in the lab changed significantly since you made your major discoveries?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Of course we are getting a lot of e-mails and phone calls, first of all from patients, and from many press people. We can spend very limited time on science and it isn’t good. We really have to go back to science because this technology is not mature enough. There are many things we still have to overcome before we can apply this technology to clinics.</p> <p><strong>Have the restrictions on ES cell research caused scientists to leave the United States?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Well, that’s what I heard. Some people moved to the UK and some people moved to Singapore because of the difficulties of working on ES cells. But now we have iPS cells, I think that problem has been overcome. Hopefully many scientists will come back to the States.</p> <p><strong>In San Francisco you’re working at the University of California and the Gladstone Institute of Cardiac Disease. What are your goals in attaching yourself to these institutions?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: The Gladstone Institute has a strong, strong research project in the three major diseases in the States and in the world. That is, cardiovascular disease, neural disease and HIV. I believe that our technology, iPS cell technology, can be used in all three of those areas of human disease. I already have a strong collaboration with many, many scientists at Gladstone.</p> <p><strong>Where do you think these developments will take science in the short-term, maybe the next five years or so at UCSF?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: In the next five years, I think scientists will make iPS cells from many patients so that they can study the cause of diseases more extensively, and so that they can search for more effective drugs. I think that will happen in the next three, four, five years.</p> <p><strong>We’d like to ask you about Ian Wilmut, who’s also an Academy member, best known for his achievement cloning a sheep, Dolly, from a single adult sheep cell. Because of your breakthrough, he’s changing the direction of his work. Would you like to comment on this?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes. Dr. Wilmut showed that somatic cells, like skin cells, can be reprogrammed. That was the beginning of my project. From his achievement, I learned that eggs — human or mouse eggs — can be programmed from skin cells. From his success I thought that there must be some factors within the egg that can reprogram somatic skin cells, and I decided to search for such reprogramming factors.</p> <p><strong>Was it difficult to gain access to eggs for research? They were in limited supply.</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Yes. If I had to use eggs, it would have been more difficult, but another scientist in Japan Dr. Takastada ? (ph.) saw that not only eggs, but also ES cells themselves can be programmed skin cells. So from his success, I learned that I didn’t have to use eggs. Instead I can use ES cells, and ES cells are much easier to handle.</p> <p><strong>Did you have a lot of collaboration with Dr. Wilmut before your breakthrough?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Actually no. We have been talking about future collaboration and it’s been great fun.</p> <p><strong>What do you hope to achieve, working with Dr. Wilmut?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: By collaborating with him, we can make iPS cells from various patients who are not so common in Japan or in San Francisco. So we can enlarge our project by collaborating with many scientists including Dr. Ian Wilmut.</p> <p><strong>Wasn’t it significant that Dr. Wilmut decided not to renew the permission he’d been granted for working with embryonic stem cells?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I didn’t expect such a rapid decision, because he kind of gave up doing cloning anymore. But I think this technology is still very young. There are many problems which we have to overcome. So I think we still have to study nuclear cloning, nuclear transfer. So I was very surprised to hear that he decided to stop doing any cloning experiments.</p> <p><strong>Have you talked with him about why he decided that, and why it was so quick?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: I did talk to him about that, but I forgot the real reason. Maybe he didn’t tell me the real reason, but I can imagine it would be very difficult for a scientist like him, who studied for a new project, to say that, “I’m going to stop this.” So I think he’s, in a sense, very brave, and I admire him so much. And that’s a good lesson for me too. Since this technology is still very young, iPS cell technology is very young, I may have to do the same thing in the future. If some other method comes up, and which, if it’s much better then iPS cell technology, I think I should be brave enough to say that we should not continue iPS cell technology. Instead we should do this new technology. I hope I will be brave enough like Dr. Wilmut.</p> <p><strong>Can you talk about some of the problems of iPS? Because it is so young, there is so much that’s not understood.</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: The biggest problem is a safety issue. ES cells are derived from embryos, and embryos are pluripotent from the beginning. By contrast, iPS cells are derived from skin cells or other types of somatic cells and those cells are not really potent anymore. We have to put three or four genes into skin cells in order to convert or in order to induce pluripotency. It’s kind of a de-differentiation, and de-differentiation is a common feature between deprogramming and cancer. So what I’m really afraid of is that the technology we’re doing now is not only making iPS cells, but also making tumor cells. So we really have to double-check the safety, safeness of iPS cells we generated by our method. Because in the future, we want to use these iPS cells in regenerative medicine, that means we would like to transplant iPS cells — derived cardiac cells or neural cells — into patients. So that kind of safety issue is crucial.</p> <p><strong>When you began your work with human cells, how likely did it seem to you that the same three or four genes that reprogrammed skin cells in mice could do the same thing in humans?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Well, we have mouse ES cells and human ES cells. They are common, in that they are pluripotent. But they are different, so different in many aspects. They look different. The morphology of mouse ES cells and human ES cells are totally different, and the culture condition of mouse and human ES cells are also different. So from those substantial differences, I thought that the same three or four factors may not work on human cells. But it turned out the same factors can generate human iPS cells, so it was rather surprising to us.</p> <p><strong>It seems like you were taking a very large risk.</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: The real risk was to start this project in mice, because we knew that chance is very, very small, and we thought it might take 20 — or maybe 30 — years. So moving from mouse to human was not so big a step. The first step was the highest step for us.</p> <p><strong>What were some of the challenges in working with the mice? Is it true that the mice had to be interbred, and then the cells had to be infected with a virus carrying the gene?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: It must be infected by viruses having those four factors — three or four factors. So viruses function as a so-called vector to deliver genes into cells. It’s just like a gene therapy. In gene therapy, you use retrovirus to transfer one gene into patients. So we use the same retroviral system in order to transfer — deliver — three genes into skin cells. As you may recall, gene therapy to immune-deficient children was very effective in the beginning. But unfortunately, more than 50 percent of those patients who got gene therapy developed tumors — leukemia — after the treatment. That was because of the retroviral integration into a host genome. So we have to worry about the same type of tumor, leukemia, in iPS cell technology.</p> <p><strong>What kind of setbacks have you had to deal with along the way, and what have you learned from them?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Failure is very important. Failure is kind of a beginning of success. Even in my own scientific experiments, I had many, many failures. But in many cases, those negative results gave me many insights into new directions, as you go. You know, in Japan we have a short sentence which — in Japanese it’s <em>stem batoh</em>. That means if you fell down seven times, you have to wake up [get up] eight times, then you can succeed. So I think that’s very true in science.</p> <p><strong>In this country, a lot of funding for scientific research is controlled by the federal government. Have you seen any negative results or obstruction because of the current administration’s views on funding for this field of science?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Funding is essential. Without funding you cannot continue a long project. Since this project was risky, everybody can tell that it won’t work, so I had a hard time to get enough funding. But back in Japan, I was very lucky to have a five-year period of relatively big funding by the Japanese government. But that program was — how to say? One very famous Japanese scientist was handling that funding program. I presented our data and our project to him and he told me that, “I knew this wouldn’t work.” But he said he thought this was a good challenge to be funded. So I was very lucky to get some good funding. So I think I really need that kind of person who can predict which risky project would be funded. It’s a very difficult job, but I think that kind of person would be essential.</p> <p><strong>Your work is at the frontier of cell research right now. Where do you think the frontier will be 25 years from now?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Treating cancers is still very difficult, but I hope that within the next 15 or 25 years, most of the cancers will be cured. Right now it’s still very difficult.</p> <p><strong>What would you like to leave as your legacy? What mark would you like to leave?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: As a scientist who developed this iPS technology, I hope to see that technology used in clinics. That’s my hope. At the same time, if this technology is not good, I’d like to say no to this technology myself. Right now I have to be very neutral. Again, this technology is still very young. We have very good hopes, but there are many, many hurdles as well. So I really have to say yes or no to this technology myself, that’s my hope.</p> <p><strong>What encouragement would you give to students and future scientists?</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: There are many diseases which we cannot cure with the current medical technologies, and it is basic science which can cure those diseases and those patients. So I hope many, many talented, young students will be scientists.</p> <p><strong>Thank you Dr. Yamanaka.</strong></p> <p>Shinya Yamanaka: Thank you very much.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D. Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>40 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67894736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_2_1292.jpg" data-image-caption="The American Academy of Achievement’s Class of 2008 gather before the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wordpress_2_1292" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_2_1292-380x258.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_2_1292-760x516.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_1077.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka joins a panel discussion of the genetic revolution at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wordpress_1077" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_1077-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_1077-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2582781456954" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/original-YAMANAKA-AP080109064016.jpg" data-image-caption="January 9, 2008: Shinya Yamanaka, a Kyoto University scientist, answers questions during a press conference in Tokyo. Yamanaka, who created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells, has won one of this year's Kyoto Prizes and will receive a $550,000 prize. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)" data-image-copyright="Shinya Yamanaka" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/original-YAMANAKA-AP080109064016-302x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/original-YAMANAKA-AP080109064016-604x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-34972515.jpg" data-image-caption="June 17, 2012; Tokyo, Japan: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka (Center for iPS CellResearch and Application, Kyoto University) attends ISSCR 2012 Public Symposium at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. (© AFLO/Nippon News/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="ISSCR 2012 Public Symposium at Tokyo" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-34972515-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-34972515-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69078947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/13451295-yamanaka_03_nws_wood.jpg" data-image-caption="March 2008: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka researches human stem cells at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Biology in San Francisco, California. He made the breakthrough discovery that a set of four factors can reprogram mature adult cells into pluripotent stem cells. He and Dr. James Thompson of the University of Wisconsin are the first two scientists to develop human stem cells without using embryos. (Photo Credit: Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease)" data-image-copyright="TARGETING THE GOOD CELL" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/13451295-yamanaka_03_nws_wood-380x262.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/13451295-yamanaka_03_nws_wood-760x525.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2947189097104" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/shinya-yamanaka.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka" data-image-copyright="shinya-yamanaka" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/shinya-yamanaka-293x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/shinya-yamanaka-587x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3818181818182" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka_headshot.jpg" data-image-caption="2011: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka" data-image-copyright="2011: Shinya Yamanaka" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka_headshot-275x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka_headshot-550x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.72763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S.-11-3.jpg" data-image-caption="2015: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka refining his Nobel Prize–winning discovery of cellular reprogramming. The discovery of cell reprogramming by Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., changed the way scientists see cell biology, but the details of how it works are still being defined. (Chris Goodfellow)" data-image-copyright="Yamanaka S. 11 3" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S.-11-3-380x276.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S.-11-3-760x553.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.72105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121208a7a-1.jpg" data-image-caption="The 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine winner, Japanese physician and researcher of adult stem cells Shinya Yamanaka, talks to the press on the stairs of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm on December 6, 2012. The nine laureates, except the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will receive their prizes at an official awarding ceremony on December 10, 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden. (AFP PHOTO/FREDRIK SANDBERG +++ SWEDEN OUT)" data-image-copyright="SWEDEN-JAPAN-NOBEL-MEDICINE" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121208a7a-1-380x274.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121208a7a-1-760x548.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7208.jpg" data-image-caption="October 18, 2014: Professor Shinya Yamanaka, 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, was conferred the Doctor of Science honoris causa at the 191st Congregation of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Dr. David Li Kwok-po, HKU Pro-Chancellor, officiated at the ceremony. The Congregation was arranged in connection with the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Workshops at which Professor Yamanaka delivered a special keynote lecture entitled "Dissecting Human Reprogramming Toward Pluripotency" immediately after the Congregation ceremony." data-image-copyright="IMGL7208" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7208-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7208-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2709030100334" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121104a7a.jpg" data-image-caption="2012: Emperor Akihito bestowed the Order of Culture, Japan’s highest honor, on six recipients during a Culture Day ceremony at the Imperial Palace, including new Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka." data-image-copyright="nn20121104a7a" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121104a7a-299x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/nn20121104a7a-598x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S.jpg" data-image-caption="2015: Shinya Yamanaka has become the latest Gladstone investigator to be elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine. Election to the National Academy of Medicine, formerly the Institute of Medicine, is considered one of the highest accomplishments in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. [Photo: Chris Goodfellow]" data-image-copyright="Yamanaka,-S" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-S-760x427.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/b-pharma-a-20150617.jpg" data-image-caption="2015: Christophe Weber, head of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., and Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, based at Kyoto University, agreed on a 10-year partnership to develop therapies for conditions such as heart failure and diabetes. The ¥20 billion ($160 million) accord, announced less than three weeks after Weber became chief executive officer in April, was the biggest between a university and a pharmaceutical company in Japan." data-image-copyright="b-pharma-a-20150617" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/b-pharma-a-20150617-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/b-pharma-a-20150617-760x605.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fe20121014rhb.jpg" data-image-caption="2012: Kyoto University Professor Shinya Yamanaka and his wife, Chika, face the media on October 9 after his award, with Cambridge University researcher John Gurdon, of a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work that the Nobel committee said has "revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop." (Kyodo)" data-image-copyright="fe20121014rhb" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fe20121014rhb-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fe20121014rhb-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4100185528757" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP38266551079.jpg" data-image-caption="December 10, 2012: Professor Shinya Yamanaka and his wife, Chika, attend the Nobel Prize Banquet at the Town Hall in Sweden. Yamanaka shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with John Gurdon of Britain for the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )" data-image-copyright="Nobel Prize Banquet" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP38266551079-269x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP38266551079-539x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.72894736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1296.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka and his wife, Chika." data-image-copyright="wp--2008konasummit1296" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1296-380x277.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1296-760x554.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.72105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40639530.jpg" data-image-caption="December 2012: Shinya Yamanaka speaks to the press on the stairs of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm a few days before the nine Nobel laureates received their prizes at the official ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. (Fredrik Sandberg/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Nobel Prize presser" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40639530-380x274.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40639530-760x548.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP559441224280.jpg" data-image-caption="December 10, 2012: Swedish Princess Madeleine, Shinya Yamanaka and other Nobel Prize winners attend a gala banquet after the Nobel Prize Ceremony at the Town Hall in Sweden. (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )" data-image-copyright="Nobel Prize Banquet" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP559441224280-380x305.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/AP559441224280-760x610.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.6" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST2.jpg" data-image-caption="2010: Ceremonial globes are presented by Japanese children to Kyoto Prize recipients William Kentridge, László Lovász and Shinya Yamanaka. The Kyoto Prize is awarded annually to honor those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of mankind." data-image-copyright="rcjKyotoPrizeST2" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST2-380x228.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST2-760x456.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.88552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST.jpg" data-image-caption="Three Kyoto Prizes were awarded this year to Shinya Yamanaka for a stem cell breakthrough, László Lovász for his algorithms and William Kentridge for his "drawings in motion" (left to right)." data-image-copyright="rcjKyotoPrizeST" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST-380x336.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rcjKyotoPrizeST-760x673.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/158093539.jpg" data-image-caption="December 10, 2012: Princess Madeleine of Sweden speaks with Nobel Prize in Medicine winner Professor Shinya Yamanaka during the Nobel Banquet after the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony at Town Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Nobel Banquet - Stockholm" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/158093539-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/158093539-760x506.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4048059149723" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Sir-John-Gurdon.jpg" data-image-caption="Sir John B. Gurdon was awarded, jointly with Shinya Yamanaka, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. In 1962, John Gurdon removed the nucleus of a fertilized egg cell from a frog and replaced it with the nucleus of a cell taken from a tadpole's intestine. This modified egg cell grew into a new frog, proving that the mature cell still contained the genetic information needed to form all types of cells." data-image-copyright="Sir John Gurdon" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Sir-John-Gurdon-271x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Sir-John-Gurdon-541x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/546afadca69c9.jpg" data-image-caption="2014: Professor Shinya Yamanaka was invited as Dr. Lui Che Woo Distinguished Professor, and delivered a public lecture on "New Era of Medicine with iPS Cells" at The Chinese University of Hong Kong." data-image-copyright="546afadca69c9" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/546afadca69c9-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/546afadca69c9-760x503.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/story1Pic2.jpg" data-image-caption="2010: Guest lecturer Shinya Yamanaka (c) accepts a plaque of appreciation from NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins (l) and NIH Deputy Director for Intramural Research Dr. Michael Gottesman." data-image-copyright="story1Pic2" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/story1Pic2-380x301.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/story1Pic2-760x602.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.70657894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/153776875.0.jpg" data-image-caption="October 8, 2012: Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka receiving a flower bouquet from Sweden's ambassador to Japan Lars Vargo in Kyoto after it was announced that Yamanaka had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/GettyImages)" data-image-copyright="JAPAN-NOBEL-MEDICINE" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/153776875.0-380x268.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/153776875.0-760x537.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.63421052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065.jpg" data-image-caption="2008: At the Academy of Achievement's 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kona-Kailua, Hawaii, award-winning journalist Kathleen Matthews moderated a panel of the world’s leading authorities on genetic revolution: Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the successful effort to sequence the human genome; James A. Thomson, one of the first scientists to successfully culture human stem cells; Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, who recently succeeded in reverting adult human skin cells to their stem cell state; and Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health; as well as neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin S. Carson. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-2008konasummit1065" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065-380x241.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1065-760x482.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084.jpg" data-image-caption="2008: Academy members Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Dr. Francis S. Collins, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, and Dr. Elias Zerhouni in a panel discussion on the genetic revolution during the International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-2008konasummit1084" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1084-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1597.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka with Howard Hughes Fellow and Harvard Medical School student delegate Loretta Sze-Mun Li, and Dr. James A. Thomson, at the 2008 Banquet of the Golden Plate dinner in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-2008konasummit1597" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1597-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1597-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7445.jpg" data-image-caption="October 18, 2014: Professor Shinya Yamanaka, 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, was conferred the Doctor of Science honoris causa at the 191st Congregation of the University of Hong Kong." data-image-copyright="IMGL7445" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7445-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMGL7445-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4.jpg" data-image-caption="2016: Dr. Yamanaka and co-author Bruce Conklin, M.D., a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. In a study published in the journal <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>, Dr. Yamanaka and his colleagues at the Gladstone Institutes found a way to increase the efficiency of stem cell reprogramming through research on a rare genetic disease. The scientists started with a very different goal: to create a cellular model to study fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). This extremely rare genetic disease causes muscle, tendons, and ligaments to turn into bone, earning it the nickname "stone man syndrome." It is caused by a mutation in the ACVR1 gene, which over-activates a cellular signaling process that is important for embryo development and involves a protein called BMP. Surprisingly, the scientists discovered that they could create more iPSCs from cells taken from FOP patients than those taken from healthy individuals. (Chris Goodfellow/Gladstone Institutes)" data-image-copyright="Shinya-&-Bruce-'16-4" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Shinya-Bruce-16-4-760x427.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CiRA021R.jpg" data-image-caption="Professor Shinya Yamanaka is the director of Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA). CiRA was officially inaugurated in 2010 with the mission of using iPS cells for new medical therapies. (Hiroumi Yoshizawa)" data-image-copyright="CiRA021R" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CiRA021R-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CiRA021R-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-09-9b.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka is a senior investigator and the L. K. Whittier Foundation Investigator in Stem Cell Biology at the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease (GICD). Dr. Yamanaka is also a Professor of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as the Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) and a principal investigator at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, both at Kyoto University." data-image-copyright="Yamanaka-09-#9b" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-09-9b-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Yamanaka-09-9b-760x427.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3013698630137" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/565d5cddc8ec8.jpg" data-image-caption="December 3, 2015: The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) conferred an honorary doctorate to Professor Shinya Yamanaka at its 79th Congregation, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to their respective areas of achievement: to educational, academic and cultural progress and the promotion of community welfare." data-image-copyright="565d5cddc8ec8" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/565d5cddc8ec8-292x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/565d5cddc8ec8-584x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426.jpg" data-image-caption="2008: Awards Council member and pioneering geneticist Dr. James A. Thomson presents the Golden Plate Award to Dr. Shinya Yamanaka at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kona-Kailua, Hawaii. Dr. Yamanaka's many awards and honors include the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, the Millennium Technology Award, the Shaw Prize, the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, the Gairdner International Award, the Robert Koch Award and the March of Dimes Prize. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-2008konasummit1426" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/wp-2008konasummit1426-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788.jpg" data-image-caption="December 10, 2012; Stockholm, Sweden: The 2012 Nobel Prize laureate for Physiology or Medicine, Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Japan, poses for photographs with his Nobel Prize after the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. (Image by © JONAS EKSTROMER/epa/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Nobel prize award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40733788-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.501976284585" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368.jpg" data-image-caption="December 10, 2012: Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf presents Professor Shinya Yamanaka with the Nobel Prize for Medicine during the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall. (Jonas Ekstromer/Corbis)" data-image-copyright="Nobel prize award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/42-40732368-506x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.73947368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Shinya Yamanaka finished his Ph.D. work in 1993. Fascinated by the emerging gene-engineering technologies being demonstrated in mice, especially the knockout mouse technology, Yamanaka decided to become a postdoctoral fellow in the U.S., where the technology was being widely used in many laboratories. Yamanaka applied to as many laboratories as possible, and was offered a position in Thomas Innerarity’s lab at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in San Francisco. In 1996, Dr. Yamanaka became an assistant professor at Osaka City University Medical School. In 1999, he was appointed Associate Professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology, where he became a full professor in 2003. He took his current position as a professor at Kyoto University in 2004, and was appointed as a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in 2007. Since 2008, he has directed CiRA." data-image-copyright="YamanakaLab3" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3-380x281.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/YamanakaLab3-760x562.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.56184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67.jpg" data-image-caption="January 9, 2008: Shinya Yamanaka, a professor of Kyoto University, attends a press conference in Tokyo. Dr. Yamanaka’s discovery that adult somatic cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells has had a profound effect on developmental and stem cell biology. By introducing the genes for four factors that turn genes on and off, he induced the skin cells of adult mice to become like embryonic stem cells, which he called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. This iPS cell technology represents an entirely new platform for fundamental studies of developmental biology. Rather than using disease models made in yeast, flies, mice or other animals, iPS cells can be taken from patients with a specific disease. As a result, they contain a complete set of the genes that resulted in that disease — representing the potential of an almost-perfect disease model for studying disease development, new drugs and treatments. (Shizuo Kambayashi)" data-image-copyright="ap08010901966" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ap08010901966_wide-77183eea1a513b2a8b7d48430ce59ab9c4f51c67-760x427.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3088888888889" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes.jpg" data-image-caption="After receiving an M.D. from Kobe University in 1987, Yamanaka served as a resident at the Osaka National Hospital. Working at the hospital, he found that his surgical skills were not as he expected and lost confidence in his ability. He changed his goal from becoming a surgeon to becoming a basic scientist working to identify the cause and cure for rare diseases. In 1989, he became a Ph.D. student in pharmacology at Osaka City University’s Graduate School of Medicine, working in Kenjiro Yamamoto's laboratory." data-image-copyright="F1.large-credit Gladstone Institutes" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes-290x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F1.large-credit-Gladstone-Institutes.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0659025787966" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd.jpg" data-image-caption="In the 1970s, Shinya Yamanaka attended Tennoji Junior High/High School in Osaka, Japan. In 1981, he was accepted to Kobe University's School of Medicine. Inspired by Torao Tokuda, a physician who revolutionized the Japanese medical care system in the 1970s, and by the many injuries and broken bones he suffered while playing judo and rugby, Yamanaka decided to study sports medicine, specializing in orthopedic surgery." data-image-copyright="1_hd" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd-357x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1_hd.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on February 22, 2017</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever science-exploration ambitious curious " data-year-inducted="2000" data-achiever-name="Blackburn"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elizabeth-blackburn/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/blackburn-760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/blackburn-760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D.</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Nobel Prize in Medicine</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2000</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever science-exploration curious spiritual-religious pioneer work-in-medicine " data-year-inducted="1994" data-achiever-name="Collins"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/collins-001a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/collins-001a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Francis S. 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Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/charles-h-townes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Charles H. Townes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-trimble/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Trimble</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ted-turner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert Edward (Ted) Turner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/desmond-tutu/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-updike/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Updike</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gore-vidal/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gore Vidal</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/antonio-villaraigosa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Antonio Villaraigosa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lech Walesa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621213148/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-d-watson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James D. 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