MANPEI SUZUKI INTERNATIONAL PRIZEAward Ceremonies
2024 Award
The Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation presented the 2024 Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research to Dr. Bernard Thorens, Professor Emeritus, University of Lausanne, Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine and Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, at the ceremony held on March 5th 2025, in Tokyo, Japan.
After Dr. Sunao Manabe, the president of the Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation delivered the opening remarks, Dr. Masato Kasuga, the Chair of Selection Committee, director of the Institute of Medical Science, Asahi Life Foundation, presented the reason for bestowing the 2024 prize on Dr. Bernard Thorens. The president Manabe gave a Certificate of Honor, US$200,000, and a Japanese objet d’art (an Iro-Nabeshima tachibana vase by Imaemon Kiln) as a memento of the award, to Dr. Thorens.
The award ceremony and the commemorative lecture were attended by many people, including invitees of the award winner, officers and trustees of the Foundation and other related parties, returnees of overseas study subsidized by the Foundation, and executives of Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.
【Reason for bestowing】
The Selection Committee highly recognized his pioneering and landmark contributions over the years to understand the mechanisms of glucose sensing in the pancreatic islets and the neurons of the central nervous system for the control of blood glucose homeostasis and regulation of food intake.
The Committee also highly recognized his pioneering contribution to the cloning and functional characterization of GLP-1 and GIP receptors in the pancreatic beta cells, which paved the way for the use of GLP-1 analogs in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
About eighty attendees gathered
Award Ceremony: Opening Remarks
Dr. Sunao Manabe, President of the Foundation
Award Ceremony: Selection Committee Chair’s Report
Dr. Masato Kasuga, the Chair of Selection Committee
Award Ceremony
Award Ceremony: Greeting of the Winnerr
Dr. Bernard Thorens
Award Lecture “A network of glucose sensing cells in the control of glucose homeostasis”
Speaker: Dr. Bernard Thorens
Dr. Bernard Thorens and Ms. Elisabeth Thorens with members of Selection Committees and the Foundation at Keidanren Hall in Tokyo
Seated, left to right
Masato Kasuga
Chair of the Selection Committee
Asahi Life Foundation
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
Bernard Thorens
2024 Winner of the Prize
University of Lausanne, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics
Elisabeth Thorens
Accompanier of the winner
Sunao Manabe
President, Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation
Back row, left to right
Masashi Aonuma
Managing Director, Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation
Kohjiro Ueki
Member of the Selection Committee
Japan Institute for Health Security
Domenico Accili
Member of the Selection Committee
Columbia University
Gerald I Shulman
Member of the Selection Committee
Yale School of Medicine
Hiroshi Ikegami
Member of the Selection Committee
Kindai University