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The Kensal E. van Holde Lectureship
7/10/06 - 4:00 PM - Lillie Auditorium
“Single molecule imaging for elucidating the mechanism involved in utilizing fluctuation by biosystems”
Toshio Yanagida, Osaka University, Japan
Toshio Yanagida is a nanobiologist whose interests have recently extended to biosystems, including molecular machines, cells, and the human brain, which are all composed of various biomolecules. He dreams of one day clarifying what differentiates biomolecules from computer chips and biosystems from man-made machines.
Dr. Yanagida received a Bachelor of Engineering Science, a Master of Engineering Science, and a Doctor of Engineering Science, all from Osaka University, where he has held various research and faculty positions since 1974. He is currently a professor in the Laboratories for Nanobiology (Soft Biosystem Group) at the University’s Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, where he directs soft nano-machine research and supervises the creation of novel tools that measure and analyze biological phenomena, such as the motility of actin. From 1993 to 1997, he was project reader for the Yanagida Biomotron Project, where he and his colleagues developed single molecule detection techniques that revealed the surprising properties of molecular motors. Prior to that he served as project reader for the Single Molecule Process Project.
Dr. Yanagida is a member of the Biophysical Society of Japan and the American Biophysical Society. He received the 25th Naito Memorial Science Promotion Award in 1994, the Japan Academy Award and the Imperial Award in 1998, as well as the Asahi Award in 1999.
Kensal E. van Holde received both B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Trained as a physical chemist, his early interests lay in the synthetic polymer field, which led to initial employment in industry. Dr. van Holde returned to academia in 1957, as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois. There he met J. Woodland Hastings, who asked him to join the faculty of the MBL Physiology course in 1962. He served as a course faculty member for five years, and later as course director from 1977 to 1981.
His experiences in the Physiology course marked a turning point in Dr. van Holde’s career. The enthusiasm of the staff and students at the MBL fired an excitement for biological research that dominated all of his subsequent work. Indeed, the two major themes of his career—the structure and function of oxygen transport proteins, and the fine structure of chromatin—both had their seeds in work conducted at the MBL.
This fascination with the MBL and a love for Woods Hole has led the van Holde family to return nearly every summer for more than 40 years. During that time Dr. van Holde has served on both the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the MBL. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
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