Japanese sleep scientist wins big prize in medicine

Masashi Yanagisawa, a professor^*1 at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, has won a big prize for medical research^*2. He shares the prize with Emmanuel Mignot, a professor at Stanford University in the United States. The prize is the 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. The University of Tsukuba announced the news on Wednesday, September 9.

The two scientists won the prize for their work on sleep. In 1998, Professor Yanagisawa found orexin^*3 in the brain. Orexin helps the brain stay awake. The next year, he studied mice that had no orexin. These mice had problems like narcolepsy^*4.

Professor Mignot studied people with narcolepsy. He found that the liquid around their brain and spine^*5 had very little orexin. Together, the two scientists showed that people get narcolepsy when they do not have enough orexin.

The award ceremony^*6 will be held in New York City on Thursday, September 17.

1. *1 professor: a teacher at a university who also does research
2. *2 medical research: careful study to learn about the body and about illness
3. *3 orexin: something the brain makes. It helps a person stay awake.
4. *4 narcolepsy: an illness in which a person sleeps too much and cannot stay awake
5. *5 spine: the long line of bones down the middle of the back
6. *6 ceremony: a formal event, for example when a prize is given to someone