Ryuzo Yanagimachi
Encyclopedia
has made major contributions in understanding the process and mechanism of mammalian fertilization. He is a pioneer of assisted fertilization technologies such as in vitro fertilization and direct sperm injection into egg (commonly called intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI) which are widely used today in human infertility clinics throughout the world. He was also a pioneer in the cloning
field. In 1997 his laboratory at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
successfully cloned mice
using the Honolulu technique. The first one was a female named Cumulina
from the cells that surround the developing ovarian follicle in mice.
. He received a BS in zoology in 1952 and a DSc in animal embryology in 1960 from Hokkaido University
. He then taught high school for one year because he could not find a research position.
Yanagimachi applied for a post-doctoral position with Dr. M. C. Chang of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He got this position and there discovered how to fertilize hamster eggs "in vitro." This work led to in vitro fertilization of eggs of human and other mammalian species.
In 1964 he returned to Hokkaido University as a temporary lecturer with the possibility of later being appointed to an assistant professorship. However, another person eventually got the position.
In 1966 Yanagimachi ended up at the University of Hawaii as an assistant professor and has become a full professor of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology and reproductive biology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine
. After working for 38 years at the university of Hawaii, he retired the end of 2004 to become a professor emeritus, but keeps working with junior fellows.
He is married to Hiroko, a former child psychologist. She could not find work in her field when they came to the U.S. due to a language barrier, so she went to work with researchers in his lab as an electron microscopist. They have no children.
on cloning mice from adult cells. Yanagimachi named the new cloning technique they had created to do this work the "Honolulu technique". The first mouse born was named Cumulina, after the cumulus cells whose nuclei were used to clone her. At the time of the publication of this work over fifty mice spanning three generations had been produced through this technique.
This work was done by an international team of scientists dubbed "Team Yanagimachi" or "Team Yana" for short. This team included co-authors Teruhiko "Teru" Wakayama (also a native of Japan), Anthony "Tony" Perry (United Kingdom
), Maurizio Zuccotti (Italy
), and K. R. Johnson (United States).
The Yanagimachi laboratory moved from the warehouse which had housed it for over thirty years into the newly created Institute for Biogenesis Research in the biomedical tower of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Money and renown from the opportunities opened up by the Nature article made the institute possible.
The Yanagimachi laboratory continues to make advances in cloning. The first male animal cloned from adult cells was announced in 1999. In 2004 the laboratory participated in the cloning of an infertile male mouse. This advance may be used to produce many infertile animals for use in research in human infertility.
Mice cloned by the Honolulu technique were displayed at the Bishop Museum
in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and the Museum of Science and Industry
in Chicago, Illinois.
at University of Connecticut
, but soon died because the mother did not care for it. The lab supplied the freeze-dried sperm.
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
field. In 1997 his laboratory at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
successfully cloned mice
House mouse
The house mouse is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food....
using the Honolulu technique. The first one was a female named Cumulina
Cumulina
Cumulina , a mouse, was the first animal cloned from adult cells that survived to adulthood. She was cloned using the Honolulu technique developed by the Ryuzo Yanagimachi research group, 'Team Yana', at the former campus of the John A. Burns School of Medicine located at the University of...
from the cells that surround the developing ovarian follicle in mice.
Early and later years
Yanagimachi was born in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He received a BS in zoology in 1952 and a DSc in animal embryology in 1960 from Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.-General Rankings:...
. He then taught high school for one year because he could not find a research position.
Yanagimachi applied for a post-doctoral position with Dr. M. C. Chang of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He got this position and there discovered how to fertilize hamster eggs "in vitro." This work led to in vitro fertilization of eggs of human and other mammalian species.
In 1964 he returned to Hokkaido University as a temporary lecturer with the possibility of later being appointed to an assistant professorship. However, another person eventually got the position.
In 1966 Yanagimachi ended up at the University of Hawaii as an assistant professor and has become a full professor of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology and reproductive biology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine
John A. Burns School of Medicine
The John A. Burns School of Medicine is a public, co-educational institution of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawaii and is one of the leading medical education institutions in the United States. In 1992, Harvard University identified the John A...
. After working for 38 years at the university of Hawaii, he retired the end of 2004 to become a professor emeritus, but keeps working with junior fellows.
He is married to Hiroko, a former child psychologist. She could not find work in her field when they came to the U.S. due to a language barrier, so she went to work with researchers in his lab as an electron microscopist. They have no children.
Cloning
In July 1998 the Yanagimachi laboratory published work in NatureNature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
on cloning mice from adult cells. Yanagimachi named the new cloning technique they had created to do this work the "Honolulu technique". The first mouse born was named Cumulina, after the cumulus cells whose nuclei were used to clone her. At the time of the publication of this work over fifty mice spanning three generations had been produced through this technique.
This work was done by an international team of scientists dubbed "Team Yanagimachi" or "Team Yana" for short. This team included co-authors Teruhiko "Teru" Wakayama (also a native of Japan), Anthony "Tony" Perry (United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
), Maurizio Zuccotti (Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), and K. R. Johnson (United States).
The Yanagimachi laboratory moved from the warehouse which had housed it for over thirty years into the newly created Institute for Biogenesis Research in the biomedical tower of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Money and renown from the opportunities opened up by the Nature article made the institute possible.
The Yanagimachi laboratory continues to make advances in cloning. The first male animal cloned from adult cells was announced in 1999. In 2004 the laboratory participated in the cloning of an infertile male mouse. This advance may be used to produce many infertile animals for use in research in human infertility.
Mice cloned by the Honolulu technique were displayed at the Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum
The Bishop Museum , is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu...
in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and the Museum of Science and Industry
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
in Chicago, Illinois.
Other major work before and after 1960
Before beginning his study of mammalian fertilization in 1960, Yanagimachi studied fish (herring) fertilization and the sexual organization of rhizocephalans (parasitic cirripeds). In fish, he discovered calcium-dependent, chemotactic movement of spermatozoa into the micropyle through which the fertilizing spermatoon enters the egg. In rhizocephala, he found that adults are not hermaphroditic as generally thought, but bisexual. So-called "testis" in an adult animal is a receptacle of cells from larval males. This discovery revolutionized biological studies of rhizocephalans and related animals. His major studies after 1960 were the analyses of the process and mechanisms of natural fertilization in mammals and development of assisted fertilization technologies. He was recognized on the citation for the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to Robert G. Edwards. Yanagimachi's comprehehsive review of Mammalian Fertilization published in 1994 (In: Physiology of Reproduction, Knobil & Neill eds, Raven Press) is classic. His group pioneered intracytoplasmic sperm injection which overcomes many forms of male infertility. They were the first to produce normal (mouse) offspring using pre-spermatozoal cells such as round spermatids and spermatocytes as well as freeze-dried spermatozoa. It was announced in March 2004 that the Yanagimachi laboratory had helped to produce a live birth of a mammal other than a mouse from freeze-dried sperm. The rabbit kit was born at the Dr. Jerry Yang's laboratoryat University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
, but soon died because the mother did not care for it. The lab supplied the freeze-dried sperm.
Awards and honors
- Zoological Society Prize,Japan, 1977
- Research Award, Society for Study of Reproduction, USA,1982
- University of Hawaii Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research, USA,1988
- Marshall Medal, Society for the Study of Fertility, UK.,1994
- International Prize of Biology, Japan, 1996
- Honorable Degree of Philosophy from the University of Rome, Italy,1997
- Distinguished Andrologist Award, American Society of Andrology,USA,1998
- Induction to the Polish Academy of Scicnes, Poland,1998
- Carl G. Hartman Award, Society for the Study of Reproduction, USA,1999
- Honorable Degree of Philosophy from the University of Pavia, Italy,1999
- Pioneer Award, International Embryo Transfer Society,2000
- Induction to the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 2001
- Honrable Degree of Philosophy from the Hokkaido University, Japan,2002
- Induction to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Hall of Honor, USA,2003