利用者:加藤勝憲/ユ・ヌン・ジャン

 

ヤン・ユン（中国語: 詹裕農、ピンイン: Zhān Yùnóng、1947年1月11日生まれ）は、台湾系アメリカ人の神経科学者である。カリフォルニア大学サンフランシスコ校のジャック＆デロリス・ラング分子生理学教授であり、妻のリリー・ヤンと共にヤン研究所の共同主任研究員を務める。

Yuh Nung Jan (Chinese: 詹裕農; pinyin: Zhān Yùnóng; born January 11, 1947) is a Taiwanese-American neuroscientist. He is the Jack and DeLoris Lange Professor of Molecular Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he works together with his wife Lily Jan as co-PIs of the Jan Lab.

生い立ち

ヤンは中国の上海で江西省出身の家庭に生まれた。彼の誕生日は公式には1946年12月20日とされているが、これは中国の暦によるもので、西暦では1947年1月11日に相当する。1949年、彼の家族は台湾の新竹市新埔に逃れた[1]。ヤンは後に妻となるリリー・ヤンと同じ名門公立校に通っていたが、全国規模の大学入試で3万人中トップ10に入るまで、科学における彼の才能は見いだされることはなかった[2]。

Jan was born in Shanghai, China to a family from Jiangxi. His birthday is officially listed as December 20, 1946, but that is according to the Chinese calendar and corresponds to January 11, 1947 of the Western calendar. In 1949, his family escaped to Xinpu, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Although Jan attended a prestigious public school like his future wife Lily Jan his talents in science remained undiscovered until he excelled in a nationwide college entrance exam placing in the top 10 out of 30,000 students.

ヤンは国立台湾大学（NTU）に進学し、1968年に物理学の学士号を取得した。ヤンは台湾空軍の通信電子士官として軍務を全うした。ヤンは兵役の年にバイクを購入し、1967年に1週間のハイキング旅行で出会ったリリー・ヤンに会いに基地を抜け出したと語っている[1]。当時、ヤン夫妻はともに理論高エネルギー物理学の上級研究を志し、海外の大学院に出願していた。二人ともカリフォルニア工科大学の物理学プログラムに合格した。NTUから合格したのは2人だけで、当時、同プログラムに合格する外国人学生はほとんどおらず、特に彼らの大学からはそうであったことを考えると、学問的に大きな功績であった[1]。

Jan would go on to attend National Taiwan University (NTU) for his undergraduate studies where he earned his B.S. in physics in 1968. Jan fulfilled his military service as a communication and electronics officer in the Taiwanese Air Force. Jan has shared the year of his service he purchased a motorcycle so he could sneak off the base to visit Lily Jan who he had met earlier during a weeklong hiking trip in 1967. Lily Jan was a fellow student studying physics at National Taiwan University and would become his future wife. At the time, both of the Jans were interested in pursuing advanced studies in theoretical high-energy physics and applied to graduate school abroad. They were both accepted to the physics program at Caltech. They were the only two students to be accepted from NTU, a major academic achievement given how few foreign students were accepted to the program at the time and especially so from their university.

学部時代の研究テーマに沿って、ヤンは理論物理学を研究するつもりでカリフォルニア工科大学の大学院に進んだ。しかし、カリフォルニア工科大学での研究セミナーや、1969年にノーベル賞を受賞したマックス・デルブリュックとの会話に触発され、ユ・ヌンは分野を生物学に移した。マックス・デルブリュックが博士課程の指導教官となるが、デルブリュックもまた物理学者であり、後に生物物理学に転向したことを考えると、これは特に形成的なものであった[1]。ヤンの博士課程での研究は、単細胞真菌による感覚信号の知覚の研究に焦点を当てたものであった[3]。リリー・ヤンと同じ研究室に在籍していたが、2人の研究の進路は別々であり、実際に2人が生涯の科学的共同研究を始めたり、一緒に論文を発表したりするのは、カリフォルニア工科大学を卒業して学位を取得した後のことであった。

In line with his research interests as an undergraduate, Jan began his graduate studies at Caltech with the intention to study theoretical physics. However, research seminars at Caltech and a conversation with Max Delbrück, a winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize, inspired Yuh Nung to switch fields to biology. Max Delbrück would become his Ph.D. advisor which was particularly formative given that Delbrück was also a physicist who later switched fields to biological physics. Jan's Ph.D. studies were focused on studying the perception of sensory signals by a single-celled fungus. Although he was in the same thesis lab as Lily Jan, their research paths were distinct and they would in fact not begin their life-long scientific collaboration or publish together until after they graduated Caltech with their degrees.

卒業が近づくにつれ、ユ・ヌンは科学者シーモア・ベンザーが発表した、ハエ胚の形態学と機能的行動の関連性を詳述した論文に出会うことになる[4]。このような研究に関連する機会に触発され、ユ・ヌンはこの分野でポスドク研究を行うことを決めた。この研究へのシフトに備えて、彼とリリー・ヤンはコールド・スプリング・ハーバーでひと夏を過ごし、実験神経科学の技術を学んだ。これが、実験室での、そして後に独立した研究者としての2人の生涯にわたる共同研究の始まりとなった。その年の暮れ、ポスドクとしてベンツァー研究室に加わった2人は、最初の実験セットアップである電気生理学実験装置を一緒に作った。ベンザー研究室での初期の共同研究は、シナプス伝達の欠陥の基礎を明らかにすることに重点を置いていた。筋収縮を制御できないシェイカーと名付けられた一連の突然変異ハエは、これらの努力にとって極めて重要であることが証明され、神経科学の分野における彼らの最も重要な貢献の舞台となった。

As he approached graduation, Yuh Nung would come across a publication by the scientist Seymour Benzer detailing opportunities associated with correlating fly embryo morphology with functional behavior. Inspired by opportunities associated with such lines of research, Yuh Nung decided to pursue post-doctoral studies in the field. In preparation for this shift in research, he and Lily Jan spent a summer at Cold Spring Harbor learning techniques in experimental neuroscience. This would mark the start of their life-long collaboration in the experimental laboratory and later in their roles as independent investigators. Upon joining the Benzer laboratory as post-docs later that year, they would build their first experimental set-up together, an electrophysiology rig. Their early collaborative research in the Benzer group was focused on uncovering the basis for defects in synaptic transmission. A series of mutant flies, named Shaker, with uncontrolled muscle contractions proved crucial to these endeavors and set the stage for some of their most significant contributions in the field of neuroscience.

ヤン夫妻はその後、ハーバード大学医学部に移り、スティーブン・カフラーのもとで2度目のポスドクを行った[5]。その後、ヤン夫妻は1979年にUCSFの教授陣に加わり、ヤン・ラボの共同主任研究員として数々の賞を共に受賞している。1984年からはハワード・ヒューズ医学研究所の研究員も務めている。

The Jans would later move to Harvard Medical School for a second postdoc with Steven Kuffler. Jan and his wife then joined the faculty at UCSF in 1979 where they are co-PIs of the Jan Lab and have won numerous awards together. Jan has been an Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1984.

受賞・受章・栄典

• Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science (2017)
• Gruber Prize in Neuroscience (2012)
• Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences
• Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
• Ralph W. Gerard Prize, Society for Neuroscience
• Distinguished Alumni Award, California Institute of Technology
• Faculty Research Award, UCSF
• Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award, Postdoctoral Scholars Association of UCSF
• W. Alden Spencer Award, Columbia University
• Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• K.S. Cole Award, Biophysical Society
• SCBA Presidential Award, Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America

私生活

In 1967, Lily Jan traveled to Shitou, Taiwan for a hiking trip to celebrate her college graduation; this trip resulted in her meeting Yuh-Nung and the beginning of their relationship. In 1971, Lily and Yuh-Nung married with a simple ceremony in a Los Angeles courthouse followed by a celebration camping and hiking in Yosemite.

The Jans had their first child together a daughter, Emily Huan-Ching Jan, on August 6, 1977. Remarkably, Lily Jan was still involved in research leading up to her due date and went into early stages of labor in the midst of Seymour Benzer's group meeting. Just seven weeks later after celebrating the arrival of Emily, the Jans would move across the country to begin the next stages of their research careers at Harvard Medical School.

Just a few years later, the Jans had established their independent research group at UCSF. In 1984, they were named Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. That same year on November 7, 1984 the Jans welcomed their second child a son named Max Huang-Wen Jan after the Jans’ Ph.D. adviser, Max Delbruck.

The Jans have shared that before their children went to college they rarely attended scientific meetings together such that there was always one parent at home with their children. Outside of the lab, they have continued to enjoy their shared interest in exploration and hiking throughout their careers. And in 2011, after their visiting professorship at the Chinese Academy of the Sciences the Jans accomplished one of their lifelong goals together, seeing Mt. Everest from the base camp in Tibet.

脚注・参考文献

[[Category:カリフォルニア大学サンフランシスコ校の教員]] [[Category:国立台湾大学出身の人物]] [[Category:米国科学アカデミー会員]] [[Category:中央研究院の院士]] [[Category:ハワード・ヒューズ医学研究所の人物]] [[Category:カリフォルニア工科大学出身の人物]] [[Category:アメリカ合衆国の神経科学者]] [[Category:存命人物]] [[Category:1947年生]] [[Category:未査読の翻訳があるページ]]