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Noboru Mizushima
Updated: 2025-07-30
Noboru Mizushima earned his doctoral degree from Tokyo Medical and Dental University where he studied molecular immunology. Following his doctorate, Mizushima completed post-doctoral studies at the National Institute for Basic Biology (Japan) in the laboratory of Yoshinori Ohsumi (Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2016), where he studied mammalian and yeast autophagy.
As a laboratory head at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Mizushima began extensive investigation of the physiological role of autophagy using mouse genetics, as well as molecular mechanisms of autophagy in mammals.
Currently, Mizushima is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Tokyo where his laboratory studies autophagy, the lysosome and intracellular protein/organelle degradation. He is a recipient of the 2016 Uehara Prize, one of Japan's most coveted scientific awards.
In addition, he serves as president of the Japanese Biochemistry Society and was recognized as a Thompson Reuters Citation Laureate, an honor bestowed upon researchers deemed likely to win the Nobel Prize.