Senior visiting scientist Masayo Takahashi elected as EMBO Associate Member

On June 8, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) announced the 64 newly elected members to its membership, which included Masayo Takahashi, Senior Visiting Scientist and former Project Leader of the Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration at RIKEN BDR. Takahashi was elected as one of the nine new EMBO Associate Members, an honor reserved for a small number of leading life scientists residing outside of the member states of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), an intergovernmental organization that funds the major EMBO Programs and activities, in recognition for their outstanding achievements in the life sciences.

Takahashi is well-known for her work developing cell therapies for retinal degenerative diseases using iPS cells and for performing the world’s first clinical application of iPS cells—the transplant surgery of retinal pigment epithelial cell sheet generated from patient-derived iPS cells in a patient with age-related macular degeneration in 2014. In addition to her position as a physician at the Kobe Eye Center Hospital, she also currently serves as president of Vision Care Inc, a company she established in 2019 that is dedicated to finding solutions and supporting people with visual impairments.

“I am honored and delighted to have been elected as an EMBO Associate Member,” says Takahashi. “I hope to contribute to EMBO’s activities, as well as continue to strive to achieve my own goals of developing and finding solutions for patients with retinal degenerative diseases.”

EMBO is an organization of more than 1,800 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The organization supports talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulates the exchange of scientific information by providing fellowships, publishing journals, and organizing workshops and conferences, and can help influence science policies. EMBO Members contribute to these activities by serving on the EMBO Council, and other EMBO committees and advisory boards. New EMBO Members are nominated and elected annually by existing EMBO Members in recognition of their contributions to scientific excellence.

This year, the 64 newly elected members reside in 21 countries: 55 new EMBO Members reside in the member states of EMBC and nine EMBO Associate Members reside in Argentina, Australia, India, Japan, and the USA.