Shigekazu Nagata

Shigekazu Nagata is a Distinguished Professor and Specially Appointed Professor at WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University in Japan. Dr. Nagata is a Biochemist and/or Molecular Biologist recognized for his work on cytokines and signal transduction induced by the cytokines. He is known particularly for his studies on the death factor and its receptor that have delineated the signal transduction and physiological role of apoptosis. Dr. Nagata was born and grown up in Kanazawa-City, Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan with a degree in Science, and from the University of Tokyo in 1977 with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Molecular Biology I, University of Zürich, Switzerland, and came back to Tokyo in 1982. He was Head of the Molecular Biology Department of Osaka Bioscience Institute, Professor in Department of Genetics, Osaka University Medical School, and Professor in Department of Medical Chemistry. He took the current position in 2015. He has been president of the Japanese Biochemical Society and Japanese Molecular Society of Japan and is the President of the Human Frontier Science Program Organization. He is a member of the National Academy of Science.