Everyone at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) is delighted to congratulate our former colleague, Professor Kei Sakamoto, on being awarded the 2026 Novo Nordisk Foundation Diabetes Prize for Excellence by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

This is one of the world’s most prestigious awards in diabetes research, recognising outstanding and sustained contributions that have transformed our understanding of diabetes and metabolic disease. As part of the award, Professor Sakamoto will deliver the prestigious Prize Lecture at the 2026 EASD Annual Meeting in Milan.

Professor Sakamoto was a Principal Investigator at the MRC PPU for many years before moving to the University of Copenhagen, where he is now Vice Executive Director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research. During his time in Dundee, he made pioneering discoveries in kinase signalling and metabolism, particularly through his work on the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway, and established many collaborations with researchers at the MRCPPU that continue to flourish today.

Professor Dario Alessi, Director of the MRC PPU, said:

“This is wonderful news and richly deserved recognition of Kei’s outstanding scientific achievements. During his years at the MRC PPU, Kei made seminal contributions to our understanding of kinase signalling and metabolic regulation, and he has continued to build on this exceptional work in Copenhagen. We are immensely proud of all that he has achieved, and everyone at the MRC PPU is absolutely delighted to see him receive this very prestigious international award. We warmly congratulate Kei and wish him every continued success.”