what is autophagy?

nobel laureate yoshinori ohsumi

In conversation with Oxford Universtiy Emeritus Professor Denis Noble

August 29, 2023

Professor Ohsumi, currently of Tokyo institute of Technology, is a Japanese cell biologist who has been working on yeast for almost half a century. In the 1990s, he conducted a series of experiments with yeast in which he detected autophagy, the cell recycling process, and the genes associated with this process. In 2016, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. According to the Nobel committee, “his discoveries laid the foundation for a better understanding of the ability of cells to manage malnutrition and infections, the causes of certain hereditary and neurological diseases, and cancer.”

In this remarkable interview, Dr. Ohsumi offers more details about his Nobel-prize winning discoveries.