Japan Prize awarded to three professors in digital and innate immunity fields: Award ceremony and commemorative lectures

The award ceremony for the Japan Prize, which is given to scientists who have achieved original and groundbreaking results in the fields of science and technology and significantly contributed to the peace and prosperity of humanity, was held on April 14 at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in Shibuya City, Tokyo Prefecture, in the presence of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress. On the 15th, a commemorative lecture was held where the winners spoke about their respective research.

The award ceremony and commemorative lectures were organized by the Japan Prize Foundation, which manages the prize.

Three doctors were awarded the prize: Professor Cynthia Dwork of Computer Science at Harvard University; Specially Appointed Professor Shizuo Akira of the Center for Advanced Modalities and DDS at the University of Osaka; and Professor Zhijian Chen of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dwork is a winner in the fields of "Electronics, Information, and Communication," and Akira and Chen are winners in the fields of "Life Science."

"Efforts to seek ways to utilize science and technology in the best possible manner"

At the award ceremony, His Majesty the Emperor stated, "I express my deep respect for the fact that all the winners have contributed greatly to the safety and convenience of people's lives, as well as the development of medical care and prevention, through their respective research." He continued, "In addition to the fields covered by this year's awards, the challenges facing the world on a global scale have become increasingly diverse and complex in recent years. In such a context, I believe the role that science and technology should play will become even more important. It is my hope that, with broader insight, we will bring together the wisdom of various fields and work together to seek ways to utilize science and technology in the best possible manner for the future of the Earth and the sustainable development of humanity."

Explaining "differential privacy" using Shohei Ohtani as an example

During the commemorative lectures, Dwork was the first to speak. Among her winning achievements, "Contribution to leading research for building an ethical digital society, including differential privacy and fairness," she focused on differential privacy in her lecture titled "Differential Privacy: Public Methods for Private Data."

"Differential privacy" is a difficult concept in theoretical computer science based on the idea that "if you cannot extract the difference in statistical results between a group that includes one specific person's information and a group that does not, then that person's information will not be leaked." Dwork explained this using the familiar topic of dental hygiene and Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani. "If you compare the answer to 'How many Dodgers players use dental floss?' with the answer to 'How many Dodgers players other than Shohei Ohtani use dental floss?', you can figure out whether Mr. Ohtani uses dental floss, right?" she explained.

She also showed examples where individuals could be identified by linking publicized 2010 U.S. Census data with commercially available data containing personal names. She introduced the process of protecting privacy by adding calculated "noise" to data based on how much one wants to protect it. Showing a slide comparing a sharp photograph with a slightly blurred image, she explained how adding noise to statistical data makes it impossible to extract private information: "The idea of differential privacy is like making a picture a bit blurry to protect privacy. Please imagine things like Monet's Water Lilies. You cannot decide which is the 'real' one, the sharp or the blurry version."

Patrolling "police" and intrusion-sensing "burglar alarms"

Next, Specially Appointed Professor Akira gave a lecture titled "From Nucleic Acid Sensing TLRs to Endoribonuclease Regnase-1." He discussed the research process leading to the discovery of TLRs (Toll-like Receptors) as part of his winning achievement, "Discovery of the nucleic acid sensing mechanism by the innate immune system," and spoke about the research results he has been focusing on recently.

Based on his discovery of cytokines (signaling substances) like Interleukin-6, which regulate immune and inflammatory responses, he introduced how he discovered proteins that sense nucleic acids derived from pathogens like viruses and bacteria entering the body through the repeated creation of knockout mice with specific gene disruptions.

Recently, he has been focusing on research into the nucleic acid-degrading enzyme Regnase-1. He explained that while clarifying signaling pathways such as TLR activation, he aims to apply this to the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Chen, who shared the award with Akira, gave a lecture titled "Igniting a Flame with cGAS - How DNA triggers Inflammation and many diseases?" The title used the word "flame" as a pun for "inflammation" triggered by DNA via the enzyme cGAS he discovered, and his own "passion" for research.

He explained the intracellular signaling pathway where the presence of cGAS causes the small molecule cGAMP to bind with the protein STING, thereby activating innate immunity. He introduced how this plays an important role in quickly sensing the invasion of viruses or bacteria into the body and initiating a defense response. On the other hand, he noted that recognizing one's own nucleic acids can cause autoimmune diseases, and he is working on applications for therapeutic drugs.

The TLRs discovered in large numbers by Akira and the cGAS discovered by Chen both function as sensors to detect nucleic acids like DNA and RNA. Chen used an analogy: "TLRs are like the police, patrolling the outside of the house. But bad guys get into the house. cGAS, which detects them, is like a burglar alarm. Just as the police are called by a burglar alarm, immunity is activated by cGAS."