CDB Project Leader wins IBM Japan Science Prize

Nobember 30, 2009 – Hiroki R. Ueda, Project Leader of the Laboratory for Systems Biology has been awarded the IBM Japan 23rd Annual Science Prize. This prize was established in 1987 to encourage basic scientific research and the work of young scientists in Japan. Awardees are chosen from Japanese researchers working in physics, chemistry, computer science or electronics at universities or government institutes.

Ueda was recognized in the computer science category for his contributions to the field of systems biology through the large-scale analysis of biological data. Systems biology is the study of systems underlying biological phenomena through genomic and genetic data, with the additional goals of controlling and reconstituting these systems. Ueda’s work in developing the mammalian biological clock as a research model for this emerging field was given as the reason for the award. His achievements include identifying the singularity behavior in the form of a stopping of the circadian clock triggered by exposure to light at midnight, and the solving of the longstanding riddle of how clock mechanism’s temperature independence.

The prize was awarded at a ceremony on November 27, at which Ueda gave a presentation in accepting the award.