The Lasker Foundation has announced that UT Southwestern Medical Center sleep researcher Masashi Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D., is a recipient of the 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for his discovery of orexin, a brain peptide that maintains wakefulness, and demonstration that the absence of its action is responsible for narcolepsy, a profound disorder of sleep.

Dr. Yanagisawa was a full-time faculty member for more than 20 years at UT Southwestern, where he conducted the prize-winning research. He is now a part-time Professor of Molecular Genetics at UTSW and holds a primary appointment as Director of the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. He is receiving the award along with Emmanuel Mignot, M.D., Ph.D., the Craig Reynolds Professor of Sleep Medicine at Stanford University, who independently identified the role of the orexin protein in controlling sleep.

Often called “America’s Nobels,” the Lasker Awards, established in 1945 by Albert and Mary Woodard Lasker, recognize significant advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease and are regarded as the country’s preeminent biomedical research prize.

Dr. Yanagisawa’s recognition marks the third consecutive year and sixth time that a UT Southwestern scientist has received a Lasker Award. With this honor, he joins Steven McKnight, Ph.D. (2025), Professor of Biochemistry; Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D. (2024), Professor of Molecular Biology; and Nobel Laureates Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D. (1989), Michael Brown, M.D. (1985), Professor of Molecular Genetics, and Joseph Goldstein, M.D. (1985), Chair and Professor of Molecular Genetics, as UT Southwestern recipients.

Dr. Yanagisawa’s research has led to transformational treatments in the field, including orexin-blocking drugs for insomnia and a new orexin-activating drug to treat narcolepsy Type 1 called oveporexton, which gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval last month. Narcolepsy is a disorder that causes extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden sleep attacks. It affects at least 1 in 2,000 people in the U.S.

“Dr. Yanagisawa’s research has the potential to help the millions worldwide who suffer from debilitating sleep disorders,” said Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., President of UT Southwestern. “We are thrilled to see his discoveries that led to the development of groundbreaking therapies recognized by this year’s Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.”

Dr. Yanagisawa discovered orexin in 1998 in his lab at UTSW while searching for molecules that stimulate so-called orphan brain receptors. His research identified two in a portion of the brain implicated in feeding; he named them after the Greek word for appetite (orexis). While studying how a deficiency in orexin genes affected eating in mice, he discovered that it caused sudden nighttime collapses resembling human narcolepsy.

“I had the privilege of collaborating with Dr. Yanagisawa during the early days following the discovery of orexin and the orexin receptors. It was an exciting time in the field, and I witnessed firsthand his creativity, rigor, and relentless curiosity,” said Joel Elmquist, D.V.M., Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Internal Medicine. “The work that has now culminated in the Lasker Award fundamentally changed our understanding of sleep biology and narcolepsy. Given the recent approval of drugs to treat narcolepsy, this work continues to improve the lives of patients around the world.”

At the same time Dr. Yanagisawa was defining the functional effects of orexin, Dr. Mignot was working to identify the defective gene responsible for an inherited form of narcolepsy in two breeds of dogs. He zeroed in on orexin receptor-2 – the same receptor gene Dr. Yanagisawa had uncovered. Their findings were published two weeks apart in 1999.

Dr. Yanagisawa is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He received the 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, making him the third UTSW researcher to do so since the award was launched in 2013.

Born in Tokyo, Dr. Yanagisawa earned his M.D. at the University of Tsukuba in 1985 and a Ph.D. from the same institution three years later. His discovery of endothelin, a hormone that causes blood vessels to contract, caught the attention of Drs. Brown and Goldstein, who recruited him to join UT Southwestern in 1991. 

The Lasker Awards will be presented in New York on Sept. 17.

References:

1. https://www.newswise.com/articles/masashi-yanagisawa-m-d-ph-d-receives-lasker-award-for-discovery-that-transformed-narcolepsy-care

(Newswise/APC)