Photo= Yoshinori Ohsumi (right), who received an honorary doctorate from Kyoto University= Kyoto University, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto

On July 13, Kyoto University conferred an honorary doctorate on Yoshinori Ohsumi, a professor emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology and last year's Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Ohsumi was pleased and said, "I hope my receiving the honorary doctorate will have a positive influence on a variety people."

Ohsumi studied at the Department of Biophysics in the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University as a "visiting student within Japan," between 1970 and 1971, when he was a graduate student at the University of Tokyo. Recognition of value of his series of achievements related to autophagy led to the conferment of the honorary doctorate.

In the conferment ceremony held at Kyoto University, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, Ohsumi received the honorary doctorate degree and a deep blue academic stole that can be worn over the shoulders, along with other gifts from Juichi Yamagiwa, the university president. In an interview, he said while looking back at his days there, "Kyoto University, where I spent a tremendous time, left a deep impression on me. I was able to study in an atmosphere of freedom."

Ohsumi then gave a lecture the path of his research in which he tackled autophagy, and others to faculty members and current students at Kyoto University. He emphasized the importance of pursuing one's own favorite field, saying, "My research was supported by my pure curiosity. It was not because I was looking for something useful that I began studying."