Known discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are differentiated cells that have been reprogrammed back to the pluripotent state. Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), which was founded in 2008 in response to this discovery, at Kyoto University, and named Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes from 2007. Recipient of many awards, including: Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award; Canada Gairdner International Award; 100th Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize; Kyoto Prize; Wolf Prize; Japan Order of Cultural Merit; Breakthrough Prize; co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012. 1993-96, Postdoctoral Researcher, Gladstone Institutes. 1987, MD, Kobe University in 1987; then began residency in orthopaedic surgery; 1993, PhD, Osaka City University. At Gladstone, first learned genetics and the use of embryonic stem cells. Returned to Osaka City University as staff until 1999, when joined Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) and shifted research focus to reprogramming. Promoted to professor in 2003 and moved to Kyoto University in 2004. Foreign Associate, NAS; Fellow, AACR; Member, EMBO, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and Japan Academy. Primary vision is to bring iPSC technology to human healthcare.