Tasuku Honjo Quotes

Tasuku Honjo

Profession : Scientist

Birth : January 27, 1942

I hope this century will be remembered as the century of the cancer treatment. That's my hope.

Tasuku Honjo

Life science is an investment for the future.

Tasuku Honjo

The FBRI has been endeavouring to build an ecosystem of healthcare innovation, through engaging in R&D, supporting clinical research, providing business support and strengthening the research and business networks within the KBIC.

Tasuku Honjo

The FBRI will continue to carry out fundamental research mainly in fields where new medical treatments or medications are urgently required, such as cancer immunology, ageing and dementia.

Tasuku Honjo

We're focused on proposing solutions to problems along the way to realizing a society where people can enjoy good health and longevity.

Tasuku Honjo

Many people tried to find the therapy for cancer, but all failed. And myself, I never expected my research, working on the immune system, would lead to the cancer therapy.

Tasuku Honjo

So for me it's more than happy to see many patients - often I can see them telling me, 'You saved my life.' This is my most enjoyable and, I would say, I'm very pleased to hear what I have done is really meaningful.

Tasuku Honjo

In the wake of the pain, economic loss, and unprecedented global suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am greatly saddened that my name and that of Kyoto University have been used to spread false accusations and misinformation.

Tasuku Honjo

Of course I went to medical school strongly influenced by my father, I mean the family reason, and secondly I read the biography of Hideyo Noguchi who was the very interesting doctor, who went to the United States in his 20s and become professor in the Rockefeller Institute.

Tasuku Honjo

I received many prizes of course before the Nobel Prize and this is probably the last prize I get. But I felt when I see the patient and saying they were saved by the therapy we developed, that is the most moving, and also the time I feel my life has some meaning.

Tasuku Honjo

To make yourself a good scientist I would say first, you have to have curiosity. If you don't have any curiosity you better choose something else.

Tasuku Honjo

Cancer immunotherapy is possible because we have a highly sophisticated immune system called 'acquired immunity,' which can catch small changes in tumor cells.

Tasuku Honjo

We encourage many more scientists to join us in our efforts to keep improving cancer immunotherapy. We sincerely hope this treatment will reach far and wide so that everybody on our planet can benefit from this evolutionary gift for healthy life.

Tasuku Honjo

Cancer has been the No. 1 cause of death during the last half-century. The trend is getting even worse as the average life span increases.

Tasuku Honjo

The concept of cancer immunotherapy was theoretically proposed by the Australian Nobel Laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet over sixty years ago, and since then, a large number of people have tried to apply it, but without success.

Tasuku Honjo

The government's duty is to support basic sciences.

Tasuku Honjo

When we first isolated PD-1, we didn't know what the function of this molecule would be. But while we were working on it for almost 10 years, we realized this is a very important molecule to regulate the immune system.

Tasuku Honjo

I know there are so many rich people in this country, and yet they don't know how to spend their money.

Tasuku Honjo

It would encourage young researchers if we can show that there is a big return for good research.

Tasuku Honjo

Donations from private sectors can be flexibly used and greatly appreciated, as they will give my research an outlook for a long period of time.

Tasuku Honjo