Shizuo Akira

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Shizuo Akira, M.D., Ph.D., is a distinguished and highly cited professor at the Department of Host Defense, Osaka University, Japan^[1]. He has done ground-breaking discoveries in the field of immunology, especially in the area of innate host defense mechanisms.

Beside being the worlds most-cited scientist,^[2], he has also been recognised, in the years 2006 and 2007, as the scientist who had published the greatest number of ‘Hot Papers’ (11 papers) over the preceding two years. He is the recipient of several international awards, including the Robert Koch Prize and the William B. Coley Award ^[3].

Among his greatest discoveries are the toll-like receptors (TLR)s,^[4], and later the RNA helicases, RIG-I (retinoic-acid-inducible protein I) and MDA5 (melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5)^[5]. All molecules belong to the pattern recognition receptors, which detects intruding pathogens and initiates antimicrobial responses in the host^[6].

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