INTERVIEW: Nobel Winner Honjo Eyes Fund for Young Researchers

October 3, 2018

Kyoto- Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo, who won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, revealed on Tuesday a plan to set up a fund to nurture researchers.

Speaking in an interview with Jiji Press, the 76-year-old Kyoto University professor said the prize money and patent revenue from Opdivo, a cancer drug developed based on his research, will be donated to the university as the fund's resources.

"I would like to create a fund at the university to support young people in the life science field," Honjo said.

The fund should be worth a few hundred billion yen so that it will be able to support researchers using only the interest, he said, adding that pharmaceutical companies and others will be asked to make contributions to the fund, he said.

Honjo and James Allison, professor at the University of Texas, jointly won the prize for discovering how to harness the body's immune system to fight cancer.

As words of encouragement for young people aiming to become researchers, Honjo emphasized that life science research provides fun and has a possibility to create industries of the future.

"Although (working as a researcher in the life science field) requires commitment, it is much more interesting than what the public imagines it to be," he said.

"We can charge ahead squarely if we find something new," he added.

Honjo appreciated Satoshi Omura, professor emeritus at Kitasato University who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for providing the university with 25 billion yen in patent income.

Omura's attitude is "extremely helpful to know," Honjo said. Omura, 83, won the prize for his contribution to developing treatments for parasitic diseases. The two are golf buddies. Jiji Press