Team Leader Yasushi Okada receives the Nakatani Award

RIKEN BDR’s Yasushi Okada, team leader of the Laboratory for Cell Polarity Regulation, was named the recipient of the 16th Nakatani Foundation Award Grand Prize by the Nakatani Foundation. The Nakatani Foundation Award Grand Prize is bestowed to researchers who have made remarkable achievements in advancing measuring technologies in biomedical engineering.

Dr. Okada was recognized for the development of single-molecule, super-resolution microscopy and its application for cell biology-related research. He has developed an original and ultrafast super-resolution fluorescence microscopy system, enabling the visualization of dynamics of ultrastructures, such as viruses and intracellular organelles, in living cells and their technology has gone on to be commercialized by many prominent microscope manufacturers and is widely used around the world. Additionally, the award recognizes his contribution to advancing applications of measuring technologies work through the development of new superphotostable and long-lived fluorescence markers for super-resolution imaging and in pioneering the new field of single-cell analysis of cell states.

He was presented with his award at a ceremony held on February 22.