Yasutomi Nishizuka

Yasutomi Nishizuka (西 冢 泰 美Japanese, Nishizuka Yasutomi; born July 12, 1932 in Ashiya, † November 4, 2004 in Kobe ) was a Japanese biochemist. He is best known as the discoverer of protein kinase C.

Life

Nishizuka studied medicine at the University of Kyoto (MD 1957), where he became in 1962 a doctorate ( Ph.D.). As a postdoctoral fellow he was at Rockefeller University with Fritz Lipmann. From 1962 he was a researcher at Kyoto University, where he became in 1964 assistant professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. From 1969 until his death he was professor of biochemistry and director of the Biochemistry Department of the University of Kobe, where he was temporarily President of the University.

1994/95 he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1989 ), the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize (1988 ), the Gairdner Foundation International Award ( 1988), the Jimenez - Diaz Prize, the Kyoto Prize (1992 ) and the Ernst Schering Prize (1995). He was a member of the Royal Society, the French Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the Japan Academy, the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences and the Leopoldina.