Researcher

Satoshi Omura

Profile

Satoshi Omura is a Japanese microbiologist at Kitasato University who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with William Campbell and Tu Youyou for discoveries concerning novel therapies against infections caused by roundworm parasites. Omura's contribution was his exceptional ability to isolate and cultivate new strains of Streptomyces bacteria from soil samples, and to identify the most promising candidates for antibiotic activity. His isolation of the avermectin-producing strain Streptomyces avermitilis was the foundational step; William Campbell then developed avermectin into ivermectin, which has prevented millions of cases of river blindness (onchocerciasis) and lymphatic filariasis. Omura's laboratory isolated and characterized hundreds of bioactive natural products from soil microbes, many of which have become important pharmaceuticals and research tools. These include the proteasome inhibitor lactacystin (essential research tool and drug lead), staurosporine (kinase inhibitor research tool), and many others used in cancer and infectious disease research. His work exemplifies how soil microbiome mining can yield transformative therapeutics, a principle now being rediscovered through metagenomics approaches.

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