SHIMADZU SCIENTIST AWARDED NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY

Koichi Tanaka rewarded for revolutionary mass spectrometry technique

9 October 2002. Today the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Koichi Tanaka has, along with two other pioneering scientists, been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002.

Mr Koichi Tanaka, of Shimadzu Corp, Kyoto, Japan, was jointly awarded one half of the prize with John B Fenn of Virginia Commonwealth University for their development of soft desorption ionisation methods in mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules. Tanaka's approach has become fundamental in the standard methods (MALDI, SELDI and DIOS) for structural analyses of proteins, DNA and carbohydrates which make it possible to characterise the components of biological systems. Many of the laser desorption technologies on the market today have their foundations in Mr Tanaka's work.

This year's Chemistry Prize focuses on powerful analytical methods for studying biological macromolecules, such as proteins. Mr Tanaka is the architect of a soft ionisation technique that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences describes as 'hovering through blasting'. In 1987, at an Oriental mass spectrometry symposium (1), Tanaka proved that protein molecules could be ionised using the soft laser desorption technique. A year later, the scientific community saw the full publication of his seminal paper (2).

Soft laser desorption is based on the bombardment of a solid or viscous phase sample with a laser pulse. The sample takes up energy from this pulse and the components or ions desorbed from the surface. An electrical field accelerates the ions which are detected by a mass analyser. The differentiation of ions is based on the time it takes for them to fly through a flight tube, which is dependent on their mass/charge (m/z) ratios - the larger the ion, the slower its velocity and the longer it takes to make its trajectory.

Tetsuo Ichikawa, Chairman of Shimadzu Biotech commented: "Mr Tanaka joined the Central Research Laboratory of Shimadzu Corp in 1983 as an R&D engineer. His discoveries were critical to the commercial development of the Axima and Kompact mass spectrometers. In addition, Mr Tanaka had a pivotal role in the creation of a novel version of the MALDI mass spectrometers, which uses a hybrid design, employing a quadrupole ion trap (QIT) before time-of-flight (TOF) separation of the ions. It makes me very proud to think that the technology employed in our instruments has warranted a Nobel Prize and that Mr Tanaka has been rewarded for his pioneering efforts."

Combining MALDI with a time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection has signified a monumental step in molecular weight determination of biological macromolecules. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has recognised Tanaka's technology for what it is - a cornerstone of proteomics.

The below URL is a copy of the outline for Mr. Koichi Tanaka's paper presented at Japan-China Joint Symposium of Mass Spectrometry in 1987. http://www.mssj.jp/Japanese/topics/biblio3.html

Refs:

(1)	Proceedings of the Second Japan-China Joint Symposium on Mass Spectrometry, Matsuda H., Liang, X-T., eds.; Bando Press, Osaka, pp185-188 (1987)
(2)	Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 2, 151 - 153 (1988), Koichi Tanaka, Hiroaki Waki, Yutaka Ido, Satoshi Akita, Yoshikazu Yoshida and Tamio Yoshida

Key:
MALDI MS - matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry
QIT - quadrupole ion trap
TOF - time-of-flight

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For more information, please contact:

Shimadzu Biotech
Tetsuo Ichikawa, Chairman
Fax: +81-75-823-1364
Tel: +81-75-823-1148
email: tichi@shimadzu.co.jp
Website: http://www.shimadzu.co.jp

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