Yosuke Tanigawa, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received a JST PRESTO award from the Japan Science and Technology Agency, one of Japan’s core public funding bodies for promoting scientific research.
Similar to the U.S. National Science Foundation’s CAREER award program, the PRESTO awards recognize high potential in early-career scientists. This year’s awards, announced Sept. 18 by the agency, include a three-and-a-half year, $200,000 grant to support Tanigawa’s research.
The grant will fund Tanigawa’s research into mathematical modeling of differences among individuals with diseases—asking why individuals with the same diagnoses exhibit differences in disease manifestation, their progression, and how they respond to treatments. By developing advanced computational and statistical tools, Tanigawa and his lab will investigate the causal biological mechanisms of interindividual differences in diseases with implications for how we deliver individualized disease intervention strategies.Tanigawa also envisions that the mathematical foundation will enable more accurate prediction of disease susceptibility and suggest attractive therapeutic targets supported by genetic evidence. Overall, the research could lead to a more tailored approach to delivering medical care for everyone.
Tanigawa joined UCLA Samueli in July 2025 from the MIT Computational Biology Lab, where he completed postdoctoral training and held a research scientist position. Tanigawa’s work has been recognized internationally, with honors, including MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 for Japan, a Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award from the American Society of Human Genetics, and an Outstanding Trainee Publication Award from the American Journal of Human Genetics.