Timeline Susumu Tonegawa

Japanese molecular biologist who was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism by which the immune system generates millions of different antibodies from a limited set of genes. Born in Nagoya, he solved one of biology's oldest puzzles while working in Switzerland, then spent over 40 years at MIT, where he reinvented himself as a neuroscientist pioneering the use of optogenetics to identify and manipulate memory cells in the brain.

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Susumu Tonegawa 11

1939 Susumu Tonegawa born in Nagoya Born Susumu Tonegawa in Nagoya, Japan. His father was a textile engineer whose job moved the family frequently, so Susumu was sent to live with an uncle in Tokyo to attend the renowned Hibiya High School.
1959 – 1963 Kyoto University Studied chemistry at Kyoto University, graduating with a BS in 1963. In his senior year, became fascinated with the molecular biology revolution and the molecules of life.
1963 – 1968 PhD at UC San Diego Moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in molecular biology at the University of California, San Diego, studying under Masaki Hayashi. Completed his doctorate in 1968.
1969 – 1970 Postdoc at the Salk Institute Worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute under Renato Dulbecco, who would later win the Nobel Prize. When his American visa expired, Dulbecco recommended him to the newly established Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland.
1971 – 1981 Basel Institute for Immunology Joined the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland. Despite knowing almost nothing about immunology, he applied molecular biology techniques to one of the field's greatest mysteries: how do vertebrates produce millions of different antibodies from a small number of genes?
1976 – 1978 Discovery of V(D)J Recombination Made the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that immune cells physically rearrange segments of their DNA — cutting and splicing gene fragments — to generate the enormous diversity of antibodies needed to fight disease. This overturned the prevailing dogma that DNA was static in somatic cells.
1981 Joined MIT Recruited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he joined the Center for Cancer Research and would spend the rest of his career.
1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine as the sole recipient for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity. He was the first Japanese scientist to win a Nobel Prize in the medical sciences.
1994 Switched to Neuroscience Made the audacious decision to leave immunology entirely and pivot to neuroscience, studying the molecular and cellular basis of memory. Many colleagues were astonished that a Nobel laureate would abandon his winning field.
2012 – 2014 Memory Engrams and Optogenetics His lab at MIT's Picower Institute made landmark discoveries using optogenetics — controlling neurons with light — to identify and manipulate specific memory cells (engrams) in mouse brains. In 2013, his team created a false memory in a mouse, demonstrating for the first time that memories could be artificially implanted.
2026 Susumu Tonegawa dies in San Mateo, California Died in San Mateo, California, at the age of 86. MIT's Picower Institute, which he had founded and directed, described him as one of the most intellectually fearless scientists of his generation.