Dr. SAKAGUCHI Shimon Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. SAKAGUCHI Shimon, Specially Appointed Professor in the Immunology Frontier Research Center at the University of Osaka, on being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

This award recognizes his discovery of Treg cells in peripheral immune tolerance.

Between 2006 and 2010, NEDO supported Professor Sakaguchi’s research as a part of a development project for novel functional antibody engineering technology. This initiative helped overcome challenges in creating antibodies that uniquely recognize proteins and their conjugates considered valuable for industrial applications, while also contributing to cost reductions in antibody production.

Additionally, from 2017 to 2018, NEDO also supported a drug discovery startup founded by Dr. Sakaguchi and others (RegCell, Inc.) in developing technology to functionally convert effector T cells into regulatory T cells.

We would like to offer our sincere congratulations to Dr. Sakaguchi as we remain committed to addressing energy and global environmental problems and enhancing industrial technology in Japan.