Kazutoshi Mori | |
|---|---|
森 和俊 | |
 Kazutoshi Mori | |
| Born | (1958-07-07)7 July 1958 (age 66) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Alma mater | Kyoto University |
| Known for | Unfolded protein response |
| Awards | Wiley Prize in Biomedical Science(2005) Gairdner Award(2009) Shaw Prize(2014) Lasker Award(2014) Imperial Prize(2016) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences(2018) Keio Medical Science Prize(2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology Cell biology |
| Institutions | Kyoto University |
Kazutoshi Mori (森 和俊,Mori Kazutoshi, born 1958) is a Japanesemolecular biologist known for research onunfolded protein response. He is a professor ofBiophysics at the Graduate School of Science,Kyoto University,[1] and shared the 2014Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award withPeter Walter for discoveries concerning the unfolded protein response — an intracellular quality control system that detects harmful misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and signals the nucleus to carry out corrective measures.[2]
Mori was born in 1958 inKurashiki, Okayama. In the elementary school era, he was good at mathematics andarithmetic, and learned from the newspaper about the existence ofquarks. In the middle school era, he was influenced by theNobel Prize in Physics ofHideki Yukawa, and he decided to studyphysics at the Faculty of Science atKyoto University (at the time, the golden age ofelementary particle physics). However, he was finally admitted to the Department of Synthetic Chemistry of the Faculty of Engineering at Kyoto University.[3]
When Mori was in the first year of college, he did not understand the significant difference between the laws of physics andchemistry, but he learned about the new development ofmolecular biology from newspaper articles. Soon after, Kyoto University alumnusSusumu Tonegawa made a breakthrough in immunology research (which earned Tonegawa the first JapaneseNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine about a decade later), Mori read about it in the newspaper and was shocked, then he decided to transfer to the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and continue to pursue graduate studies. In 1985, he obtained a doctorate degree.[3]
Mori was appointed as an assistant professor atGifu Pharmaceutical University in 1985, before becoming a postdoctoral fellow at theUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1989, and he began research onunfolded protein response (UPR) in the United States. He was a researcher at the HSP (Heat Shock Protein) Research Institute in Kyoto from 1993 to 1999, and has been a member of the faculty ofKyoto University since 1999.[4] Meanwhile, he completed the copying ofHAC1,ATF6 andBP1.
The independent works of Mori andPeter Walter during the same period revealed the UPR pathway, which explains the mechanism by which cells generate signals due to stress and regulate. They discovered the inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (Ire1) in 1993, which communicates the state of the endoplasmic reticulum protein production line. These research uncovered to form the basis for understanding and treating a wide range of important diseases such as cancer,metabolic disorders includingobesity,diabetes,fatty liver anddyslipidemia, a number ofneurodegenerative diseases, andinflammatory diseases.
In 2003, Mori was transferred to the Department of Biophysics (Division of Biological Sciences) of Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University, the academic unit is also the first laboratory formolecular biology in Japan and has a long history.
Mori obtained the qualification of the fifth section ofKendo in 1998. He also briefly taught Kendo in elementary school (when his son attended the school at the time).[12]
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