Yoshinori Ohsumi, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for basic sciences observes, “In my school days, students weren’t very privileged. A considerable number were unable to find jobs after graduate school. Nevertheless we thought ‘Que Sera Sera…’ in a way, no researcher’s path is 100 per cent guaranteed. Yet, they continue their research because they enjoy it, which I believe is very important… In the world of science there is no guarantee that a solution will be found by doing a certain thing under certain conditions. Some find science all the more interesting because it involves risk. I want to see this kind of mind-set in people…It seems that young people these days are more cautious and simply cannot afford such optimism…No researcher makes discoveries on a daily basis.” Continuing Ohsumi says, ,” says Ohsumi, “Rather they spend days questioning one thing or another. I think it is important for researchers to find joy in little everyday things like getting satisfying results by adding a small change. You cannot really aim for a ‘great’ discovery. If you always go for the long shot you may have a hard time becoming a good scientist.”
So much so that Ohsumi suggests, “I hope to see some kind of system in our society that supports those who have failed, because not everyone can succeed in their challenges. Young people today seem to believe that even a single failure will not be tolerated. So they avoid challenges thinking that once they fail, the game is over. I think this creates a kind of stifling atmosphere…My hope is that scientists will be given a consolation match after they have tried very hard but failed…give them a second chance”
About his own choice of the field of work, Ohsumi says, “I did not like competition. I wanted to do something that nobody was doing. While it is true that for research competition is essential, I do not find meaning in stating who discovered what first…I find greater meaning in expanding the horizons of knowledge.” Explaining on why he decided to study vacuoles, he says, …,” says Ohsumi explaining why he decided to study vacoules,“…a seemingly insignificant part of the cell. Over ten years of the research in Tokyo University the vacoule was identified as a very important element in the transport of animo acids…”
Ohsumi’s begins by seeking the answer to a simple question, “How many RBCs are produced in one second in our body?” Taking on from there he explains that we have a dynamic body in which, “…on an average 300-400 gms of protein are synthesised everyday in our body and the same amount of protein is degraded also…Through food our intake of protein is limited in volume, therefore most of our protein comes from our own resources that is amino acids… that means recycling is going on constantly in the stationary state. In starvation, the degradation happens more rapidly…”
Ohsumi explains that this is the reason why, “…sometimes accidents are reported…people get lost on the mountains and still survive… some proteins in the body are degraded to keep them alive.”
Ohsumi says degradation is a very important mechanism for survival and even though the idea of autophagy (self-devouring) had been developed by Christian de Duve in 1962, the location of the process could not be identified. Ohsumi studied yeast cells which are very similar to human cells and found the vacoule as the centre of all action. He found rapid activity taking place under starvation…small bodies which they call autophagic bodies attach themselves to the vacoule membrane and are then swallowed into it. All this happens within seconds.
The excitement of listening to the process of his discovery comes with his words of caution when he says, “One important thing is to clarify the mechanism of your finding when you are to apply them to medicine or others. In the case of autophagy unless you understand its principles…how and why membranes are produced within cells…you can’t hope to develop truly effective drugs. It is my basic understanding that much remains to be figured out from here on.”
sudhamahi@gmail.com
