18 July 2006

Hooke Medal awarded to Dundee scientist

Dr Tomoyuki (Tomo) Tanaka of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee has been awarded the Hooke Medal from the British Society for Cell Biology in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cell biology.

In his research, Dr Tanaka investigates how cells divide and multiply. Dr Tanaka and his co-investigators have made a number of significant discoveries about how cells copy and inherit their genetic information accurately and efficiently to avoid cancers and other diseases, which are caused by defects in this process.

The medal will be presented to Dr Tanaka at the British Society for Cell Biology Spring Meeting in Edinburgh in March 2007.

Professor Clare Isacke, President of the British Society for Cell Biology said "We are delighted to award the Hooke Medal to Dr Tanaka. Tomo has consistently demonstrated by his ground breaking and elegant work that he is one of the leading cell biologists working within the UK."

Dr Tanaka is Principal Investigator in the Division of Gene Regulation and Expression and joined the School of Life Sciences to start his own research group only 5 years ago. Prior to this he worked for five years at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna. Dr Tanaka received a medical degree in 1987 from the University of Tokyo, carried out residences and then obtained his PhD in 1995 before moving to Europe.

Notes to Editors

The British Society for Cell Biology was founded 1965 to promote the advance of research in all branches of cell biology and to encourage the interchange of information. The Society organizes and supports meetings and conferences relevant to cell biology and plays an increasing role in raising awareness of science policy issues in the UK.

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Roddy Isles
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University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk