Yoshinori Ohsumi won the 2016 Nobel Prize for medicine

A Japanese biologist has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology. Dr Yoshinori Ohsumi (yosh-in-OR-ee o-SOO-mee) was awarded the prestigious prize for his work looking into how cells can remain healthy.

Yoshinori Ohsumi takes a phone call from his prime minister Source: AAP

Since the 1990s, Yoshinori Ohsumi (yosh-in-OR-ee o-SOO-mee) has been working with baker's yeast to unlock the secret of human cells.

 

He has been studying a process called autophagy, (AUTO-faj-ee) in which the body's cells destroy and recycle their own components.

 

Nobel Committee member Maria Massucci (muh-SOO-chee) says Dr Ohsumi's work helps explain what goes wrong in a range of illnesses, from cancer to Parkinson's disease.