Nobel laureate; discoverer of induced pluripotent stem cells
Appears in 4 stories
Director Emeritus, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University; Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka showed that four genes could rewind an adult cell all the way back to an embryonic-like state. Twenty years later, a stripped-down version of that technique is being injected into human eyes for the first time.
Updated May 30
Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
For more than 50 years, Parkinson's disease treatment has meant managing symptoms with medication—not addressing the root cause: the death of dopamine-producing brain cells. Now, clinical trials are testing whether stem cell therapies can actually replace those lost neurons.
Updated May 27
Pioneered induced pluripotent stem cell technology in 2006
Researchers just demonstrated they can regenerate heart muscle using reprogrammed stem cells—and for the first time, proved these patches work in a human patient. In January 2025, a 46-year-old woman with advanced heart failure received 10 patches containing 400 million stem cell-derived heart muscle cells. Three months later, when she received a transplant, examination of her original heart revealed the patches had survived, formed blood vessels, and integrated with her heart tissue.
Updated May 21
Developed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology
Johns Hopkins engineers grew miniature brains from patients' skin cells and discovered each psychiatric disorder has its own electrical fingerprint. The organoids diagnosed schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with 83% accuracy just by monitoring neural firing patterns—rising to 92% after gentle electrical stimulation.
Updated May 16
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