Professor Shinya Yamanaka, director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) and principal investigator at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS), appeared at a press conference together with his wife in response to the announcement of winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
At the press conference, Director Yamanaka thanked all the researchers in Japan and the United States with whom he had collaborated in his research and who demonstrated generous cooperation, and said that it was support from his family that had enabled him to continue with the stressful life of a researcher.
Mrs. Yamanaka told reporters that the development of the iPS cell could not have been possible through his efforts alone, thanking the many people who supported his research up to that date.
Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa came to congratulate him personally before the press conference, while the Grand Chamberlain of the Imperial Household Agency conveyed a message from the Emperor after the conference--words of congratulations that he received among others from various sectors of society.
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Director Yamanaka and his wife at the press conference
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