2022 Paper of the Year Award – Basic Research Category

Tetsuya Nagata, Takanori Yokota, et al, Nature Biotechnology (2021).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-00972-x

Takanori Yokota, MD, PhD
Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Biography:

Dr. Yokota graduated from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 1984 and completed his Residency and Fellowship in Musashino Red Cross Hospital in 1986. He studied molecular biology and gene therapy in Bredesen’s lab in Burnham Institute (CA, USA) and Buck Center for Aging Research (CA, USA) in 1998-2000. He accepted a position as Professor in 2010 and Chairman of Department Neurology and Neurological Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 2015. Dr. Yokota published more than 250 outstanding scientific papers and has been the recipient of many awards in basic research for gene therapy with oligonucleotide therapy and the molecular mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases. His group has developed DNA/RNA oligonucleotide (HDO) as a third class of oligonucleotide drug which has a unique intracellular trafficking biology with highly potency of RNA editing as well as silencing.

He and Dr. Tetsuya Nagata developed this HDO technology enabling marked inhibition of genes in brain and spinal cord via blood-brain-barrier and circulating T and B lymphocytes after intravenous or subcutaneous administration. He has been president of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Society of Japan (Nats-J) since 2018 and has been playing an outstanding role in expanding oligonucleotide research and N of 1 oligonucleotide therapy in Asian countries.

Tetsuya Nagata

Tetsuya Negata

Biography:

Dr. Yokota graduated from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 1984 and completed his Residency and Fellowship in Musashino Red Cross Hospital in 1986. He studied molecular biology and gene therapy in Bredesen’s lab in Burnham Institute (CA, USA) and Buck Center for Aging Research (CA, USA) in 1998-2000. He accepted a position as Professor in 2010 and Chairman of Department Neurology and Neurological Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 2015. Dr. Yokota published more than 250 outstanding scientific papers and has been the recipient of many awards in basic research for gene therapy with oligonucleotide therapy and the molecular mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases. His group has developed DNA/RNA oligonucleotide (HDO) as a third class of oligonucleotide drug which has a unique intracellular trafficking biology with highly potency of RNA editing as well as silencing.

He and Dr. Tetsuya Nagata developed this HDO technology enabling marked inhibition of genes in brain and spinal cord via blood-brain-barrier and circulating T and B lymphocytes after intravenous or subcutaneous administration. He has been president of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Society of Japan (Nats-J) since 2018 and has been playing an outstanding role in expanding oligonucleotide research and N of 1 oligonucleotide therapy in Asian countries.