Known for his work in the biology sub-field of stem cell research, this prominent Japanese scientist was the first to successfully grow an embryonic optic cup from human stem cells. He taught at Kyoto University and directed a department of the RIKEN research institute.
After graduating from Kyoto University's School of Medicine, he accepted a research fellowship at the University of California- Los Angeles' medical school.
He was the recipient of the 2010 Osaka Prize and the 2012 Inoue Prize.
He was born and raised in Hyogo, Japan. Tragically, he committed suicide at the age of fifty-two in his research laboratory at the RIKEN institute.
He and Nobel Prize winner Osamu Shimomura were both prominent Japanese Scientists.
