In the early Seventies, the technology for purifying a specific eukaryotic mRNA was just becoming available. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
After I arrived in Basel, I initially attempted to continue the project of my days in Dulbecco’s laboratory, namely, the transcriptional control of the simian virus 40 genes. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
I became fascinated by the then-blossoming science of molecular biology when, in my senior year, I happened to read the papers by Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod on the operon theory. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
I commuted to the prestigious Hibiya High School from my uncle’s home in Tokyo. During the high school years, I developed an interest in chemistry, so upon graduation, I chose to take an entrance examination for the Department of Chemistry of the University of Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
My father was an engineer working for a textile company that had several factories scattered in rural towns in the southern part of Japan. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
We found out that, contrary to what many people thought, in the immune system, genes can change during the life cycle of the individual. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
Our study showed that the false memory and the genuine memory are based on very similar, almost identical, brain mechanisms. It is difficult for the false memory bearer to distinguish between them. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
I decided to pursue graduate study in molecular biology and was accepted by Professor Itaru Watanabe’s laboratory at the Institute for Virus Research at the University of Kyoto, one of a few laboratories in Japan where U.S.-trained molecular biologists were actively engaged in research. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
It doesn’t matter whether it is chemistry or immunology or neuroscience: I just do research on what I find interesting. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote
When General Motors builds a car, they want to meet the specific needs of many customers. But if they custom-make each car, then it will not be economical. Susumu Tonegawa Read Quote