The RIKEN CDB’s Minoru Takasato, team leader of the Laboratory for Human Organogenesis, was announced as one of the winners of the 2016 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes. At a gala event held in Sydney, Australia on August 31, he along with his colleague Professor Melissa Little from the Murdoch Childrens Institute received the 2016 UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research for their work generating human kidney organoids from stem cells. Their achievements were recognized as paving the way for disease modelling, development of therapies for kidney diseases and for the possibility of bioengineering a kidney that can be used for transplantation. This work was carried out by Takasato during his previous post at the Murdoch Childrens Institute.

“It is an honor and privilege to work on research that we hope will one day be able to contribute to regenerative therapies for kidney disease,” says Takasato on winning the Eureka Prize.

The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes was established in 1990 to reward outstanding achievements in Australian science and science communication, and is presented annually by the Australian Museum in partnership with government organizations, academia, private sector companies, and individuals. Sixteen prizes were awarded this year under categories for research and innovation, leadership, science communication, and school science.