Nakanishi Prize Awarded To Shosuke Yamamura

Shosuke Yamamura, emeritus professor of chemistry at Keio University, in Japan, is the recipient of the 2010 Nakanishi Prize, named after Columbia University emeritus professor and natural products chemist Koji Nakanishi. The award recognizes work that extends chemical and spectroscopic methods to the study of important biological phenomena.

This year's prize was awarded by the Chemical Society of Japan; it is awarded every other year by the American Chemical Society. The award consists of $3,000, a medallion, and a certificate. It also includes up to $2,500 for travel expenses to the Chemical Society of Japan annual meeting in March, where the award will be presented.

Yamamura's research interests include the isolation, structural determination, total synthesis, and study of the biological function of bioactive natural products. He received a Ph.D. in 1963 from Nagoya University and thereafter went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a postdoc. He was awarded the Chemical Society of Japan Award in 1992 and the Fukuzawa Award in 1999.