Reiko Kuroda, a leading Japanese scientist and a graduate of the Ochanomizu University Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, has been named a Laureate of the 2013 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science awards.
The award, which recognizes women's activities in the sciences and supports scientific vocations, goes to female scientists who have made major contributions to scientific development.

Kuroda, currently a professor at the Research Institute for Science & Technology at the Tokyo University of Science (and Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo), was named a winner "for her work on the concept of handedness in the natural world and discovering the functional importance of the difference between left-handed and right-handed molecules, which has wide applications, including research on neurodegenerative diseases." Through her research, Kuroda has shown the importance of the "molecular chirality" (handedness) phenomenon observed in genes, proteins, and other elements of the natural world, a finding that has significant implications for applied research in organic/inorganic compounds, Alzheimer's, and many more fields.
For her remarkable efforts, Kuroda will receive 100,000 USD (approximately 8,000,000 yen) at an Awards ceremony at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on March 28, 2013.

In select company

Kuroda is the fourth Japanese female scientist to win the award. She joins:

• Professor Emeritus Tsuneko Okazaki (Nagoya University), a trailblazer in Japanese molecular biology, who discovered and researched discontinuously replicated "Okazaki fragments" of DNA (2000)
• Professor Emeritus Fumiko Yonezawa (Keio University), who pioneered theory and computer simulations of amorphous semiconductors and liquid metals (2005)
• Professor Akiko Kobayashi (Nihon University College of Humanities and Sciences, Department of Chemistry; Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo), who became the first scientist to successfully design and synthesize single-component molecular metals, thereby making significant contributions to the development of molecular conductors (2009)

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science

Since L’Oréal and UNESCO established the "For Women in Science" award in 1998 to elevate the standing of women in science around the world, the award has recognized 72 women who have made valuable contributions to scientific progress. For the 2013 award, organizers selected five world-class recipients responsible for exceptional work in the physical sciences. With an impressive list of past recipients that includes Elizabeth Blackburn (the North American Laureate for L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science in 2008) , who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Ada Yonath (the European Laureate for L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science in 2008), who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, many consider the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science award to be the "Nobel Prize for women."

The Laureates of the 2013 award are (honorifics omitted):

• Japan: Professor Reiko Kuroda, Research Institute for Science & Technology at the Tokyo University of Science (and Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo)
• Nigeria: Professor Francisca Nneka OKEKE, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
  For her significant contributions to the understanding of daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere, which may further our understanding of climate change.
• United Kingdom: Professor Pratibha GAI, University of York
  For ingeniously modifying her electron microscope so that she was able to observe chemical reactions occurring in surface atoms of catalysts, which will help scientists in their development of new medicines or new energy sources.
• Brazil: Professor Marcia BARBOSA, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre
  For discovering a peculiarity of water that may lead to better understanding of how earthquakes occur and how proteins fold, which is important for the treatment of diseases.
• USA: Professor Deborah JIN, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder
  For having been the first to cool down molecules so much that she was able to observe chemical reactions in slow motion, which may help further understanding of molecular processes that are important for medicine or new energy sources.

• For more press releases from the L’Oréal Group, visit the link below.
  • Nihon L’Oréal K.K. (Japanese)
• Related news: Mayumi Kudo wins the 7th UNESCO-L’ORÉAL Co-sponsored Fellowship for Young Women in Life Sciences (Japan)
  • In 2012, Mayumi Kudo, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences (Division of Advanced Sciences), received the 7th UNESCO- L’ORÉAL Co-sponsored Fellowship for Young Women in Life Sciences (Japan). This award, created to help young Japanese female scientists continue their work at Japanese educational/research institutions, honors young women researchers currently at or planning to study at the doctoral level.
    We at Ochanomizu University are extremely proud that such esteemed honors have been bestowed upon two of our own in the same year.
  • Mayumi Kudo wins the 7th UNESCO-L’ORÉAL Co-sponsored Fellowship for Young Women in Life Sciences (Japan)