Overview
- MIT confirmed that Susumu Tonegawa died July 11 and announced his death through the university this week.
- Tonegawa won the 1987 Nobel Prize for discovering V(D)J gene rearrangement, the genetic process that lets a small set of genes produce a vast array of antibodies.
- In the 2010s he shifted to neuroscience and led experiments that located memory ‘engrams’ in the hippocampus and used optogenetics to reactivate or implant memories in mice.
- He served more than 40 years on MIT’s faculty, founded and directed the Picower Institute, led RIKEN’s brain institute, held HHMI support, and received major awards including Japan’s Order of Culture.
- He is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren; family held a private funeral and his ashes will be buried in Kyoto while researchers continue to build on his work in immunology, memory and training new scientists.