Prof. Hiroki R. Ueda, M. D., Ph.D.

Aschoff Honma Prize Citation

​

​

Hiroki Ueda applies systems biology approaches to enable a better understanding of circadian rhythms and sleep. At the same time, he has exploited and developed molecular and cellular tools and integrated theoretical concepts to provide a comprehensive dissection of sleep. Ueda proposes that calcium plays a central role in regulating sleep induction and maintenance, at least in part via the calcium-dependent CAM kinase pathway. Recently, he identified other mechanisms by which protein phosphorylation affects sleep, demonstrating that protein kinase A and the phosphatase calcineurin have opposing effects on sleep.  Ueda’s team has developed innovative technologies such as the Triple-CRISPR method and CUBIC tissue clearing to facilitate studies of sleep homeostasis and the daily patterns of activation in the mouse brain. And he proposed the WISE (Wake Inhibition Sleep Enhancement) mechanism, offering a compelling alternative to the Synaptic Homeostasis Hypothesis.  His systems approach has been pivotal in elucidating the molecular links between sleep and synaptic plasticity, circadian genes and temperature-compensated daily rhythms in their proteins, and blood metabolites and circadian diagnostics. Ueda has approximately 273 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index of 67.

​

Hiroki Ueda graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tokyo in 2000 and earned his Ph.D. there in 2004. He began his career at the RIKEN, advancing from team leader to project leader and later group director. From 2013, he has served as a professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, and, since 2024, he has also served as a professor at Kurume University and currently holds multiple appointments, including a visiting professor at the University of Oxford and an affiliate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. Ueda’s work has earned him numerous honours, including, including Tokyo Techno Forum 21, Gold Medal (Tokyo Techno Forum 21, 2005), Young Investigator Awards (MEXT, 2006) and IBM Science Award (IBM, 2009), a Young Investigator Promotion Awards (Japanese Society for Chronobiology, 2007). He also received Tsukahara Award (Brain Science Foundation, 2012), Japan Innovator Awards (Nikkei Business Publications Inc. 2004), Teiichi Yamazaki Award (Foundation for Promotion of Material Science and Technology of Japan, 2015), Innovator of the Year (2017) and The Ichimura Prize in Science for Excellent Achievement (Ichimura Foundation for New Technology, 2018) and the Setsuro Ebashi Prize (2023).