Shigetada Nakanishi
| Shigetada Nakanishi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 7, 1942 Ogaki, Gifu |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
| Institutions |
Kyoto University Osaka Bioscience Institute |
| Alma mater | Kyoto University |
| Notable awards | Person of Cultural Merit |
Shigetada Nakanishi (born January 7, 1942) is a Japanese biochemist and neuroscientist. Both a medical doctor and biomedical researcher by training, Nakanishi is the director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute and professor emeritus at Kyoto University. He has received several scientific awards for his research in neuroscience, having characterized the molecular structure or function of several protein receptors. He is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S.
Nakanishi grew up in Ōgaki in rural central Japan. He earned a medical degree at Kyoto University and, though his family hoped that he would enter medical practice, he continued his studies for a Ph.D. and opted for a research career. Nakanishi said that he considered clinical medicine, but he was swayed toward research as he realized that many modern medical conditions were still not well understood from a basic science perspective.
Nakanishi came to the U.S. in 1971 and was a visiting associate at National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology. In 1974, Nakanishi joined the faculty at Kyoto University. He said that early in his career, there was growing interest in the impact of various enzymes on metabolic processes in cells, but he said that he saw an opportunity in that the underlying protein chemistry of enzymes still was not very well understood. In 2005, Nakanishi was named an emeritus professor at Kyoto and he became director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute.
Nakanishi's research has largely focused on the molecular science behind glutamate receptors. Using electrophysiology and the Xenopus oocyte expression system, Nakanishi's team was able to isolate receptors and ion channels. The team was the first to characterize the molecular structure of NMDA receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptors. The research suggested that specific types of receptors had varying functions in different parts of the brain.
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