Shimon Sakaguchi

Experimental Immunology,
Immunology Frontier Research Center,
Osaka University
Osaka | Japan

Shimon Sakaguchi is an immunologist recognized particularly for his discovery of regulatory T cells (Tregs), an indispensable constituent of the immune system for the maintenance of immune self-tolerance and homeostasis. His recent research has been focused on targeting Tregs for evoking and enhancing tumor immunity and for treating autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases in clinical settings. Sakaguchi is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) Osaka University, Japan. He obtained an M.D. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1982 from Kyoto University, Japan, where he was trained as a pathologist and immunologist. After performing postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University as a Lucille P. Markey Scholar, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the Scripps Research Institute. He returned to Japan in 1991 and continued his immunology research as the Head of the Department of Immunopathology at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo. From 1998 to 2011, he was a Professor of Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences Kyoto University and served as the Director of the Institute for several years. In 2011, his lab moved to Osaka University. He was elected to Foreign Member of National Academy of Sciences USA in 2012, and has been awarded many international prizes including Cancer Research Institute’s William B. Coley Award in 2004, Keio Medical Science Prize in 2008, Canada Gairdner International Award in 2015, the Crafoord Prize in 2017, the German Immunology Award in 2019, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 2020, and the Robert Koch Prize in 2020. He received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 2019, the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Government of Japan in 2009, and the Order of Culture, the highest accolade for Japanese scholars, in 2019 from the Emperor of Japan.