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The JSPS Ikushi Prize was created in FY2010 with the objective of rewarding outstanding doctoral students in graduate school who can be expected to contribute to the future development of academic research in Japan.
Only 16 of the 124 candidates were awarded the prize. The award ceremony was held on Monday March 4th, and the memorial lecture was held on Thursday March 14th, 2013.
Awardee
Maki Fukuda
Recipient: Ms. Maki Fukuda, third-year doctoral student in the Graduate School of Law
Research topic: Research on the legal history of pardons in France
Research summary: This research observes the relationship between pardons and authority after the era of absolute monarchy era (19th century and earlier) in France. It is generally thought that pardons were at the whim of the monarch, however there is almost no research up to this point that dealt directly with this subject. This research uses legal documents and records of the time, documents actually used in pardons, as well as 19th century statistics, to investigate this system from the three viewpoints of the legal system, philosophy, and practice. It is concluded that pardons are very significant, even in the authority of the system of the modern French republic.
Satohiro Okuda
Recipient: Mr. Satohiro Okuda, third-year doctoral student in the Graduate School of Science
Research topic: Understanding pollen tube guidance mechanisms for pollen tube attractant LUREs and receptor identification
Research summary: Succeeded in the independent development of a candidate peptide refining system and a quantitative pollen tube attractant assay system for use in identifying pollen tube attractants from a large number of candidate substances. LURE1 and LURE2 were identified as true pollen tube attractants using these two technologies. This solves a puzzle that has remained problematic for 140 years, and is the first time that it was possible to analyze pollen tube guidance at the molecular level. Furthermore, it has clarified the fact that the pistil structure controls bonding and reactivity for LUREs in at least two stages.
