(NEW HAVEN, 4-15-24) – Yale School of Medicine immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, will receive the Nakaakira Tsukahara Memorial Award from the Brain Science Foundation of Japan. The award, created in memory of Osaka University Professor Nakaakira Tsukahara, honors innovative research in the life sciences and has been presented annually since 1986.
“I am so honored and grateful to be recognized for the contributions that we made together over the years with the members of my laboratory,” says Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale School of Medicine. Iwasaki is an elected member of the National Academy of Science, National Academy of Medicine, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also serves as founding director of the recently established Yale Center for Infection And Immunity. The understanding and treatment of post-acute infection syndromes is the focus of the center.
This honor is a recognition of Iwasaki’s career-spanning work elucidating the minute interactions between pathogens and the immune system, especially in the fields of viral immunity and vaccine design. “My laboratory has been able to leverage the basic immunological insights into new vaccine designs that promote immune defense mechanisms at the mucosal surfaces,” Iwasaki says. “We hope that one day these mucosal vaccines will benefit people by preventing infection and transmission, as well as preventing post-acute infection syndromes.
The Tsukahara Memorial Award will be presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of The Japan Neuroscience Society, July 24-27, 2024, where Iwasaki will also provide a lecture.
