Hamao Umezawa

As a result of his work on kanamycin, Hamao Umezawa was presented with many prizes the Asahi Prize (from the Asahi Shinbun, 1959), Prize from the Minister of the Ministry of Science in Japan (1959), Commandeur de rOrdre de la Sante Publique (from France, 1960), and the Japan Academy Prize (1962). The Order of Culture (Bunka-Kunsho), the most honorable prize for scholars in Japan, was conferred by the Emperor of Japan in 1962, when Hamao was forty-eight years old the Umezawas two sons, Kazuo (now vice-director of the Institute of Microbial Chemistry) and Yoji (now chief researcher) were then sixteen and twelve years old, respectively. 

A man of moderate stature, Hamao Umezawa was, until the time of his sickness, of robust appearance and engaging personality. He spoke English rapidly and with ease, with a characteristic inflection that demanded acute concentration by the listener. 

The prominent role played by Japanese investigators in carbohydrate science is underscored by the two substantial chapters by Japanese authors in the current volume. This volume also pays tribute to one of the greatest Japanese carbohydrate scientists, Hamao Umezawa, in the obituary article contributed by Tsuchiya, Maeda, and Horton. Hamao Umezawa dedicated his entire, extraordinarily productive career to the development of antibiotics his innovative contributions are exemplified by his chapter in Volume 30 of this series on the biochemical mechanism of inactivation of aminoglycoside antibiotics. 

De Clercq E. Hamao Umezawa Memorial Award Lecture An odyssey in the viral chemotherapy field. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2001 18 309-328. 

Tsuchiya, T, Maeda, K, Horton, D, Hamao Umezawa, Adv. Carbohydr. Chem. Biochem., 48, 1-20, 1990. 

Moreover, Sumio Umezawa had broad interests in the chemistry of other sugar-containing antibiotics. Bleomycins are useful antitumor agents discovered by Hamao Umezawa and co-workers in 1966 and are glycopeptides composed of a novel hexapeptide, a terminal amine, and a disaccharide. Collaboration with Hamao s group led to elucidation of the stmctnre of the disaccharide portion common to the bleomycins. For this work Shoji Omoto (Meiji Seika Kaisha) received his Ph.D., and Umezawa, with Tsuchiya and Miyake, synthesized the disaccharide. Later, he and co-workers successfully achieved the first total synthesis of bleomycin A2 in collaboration with the groups of Hamao Umezawa and Masaji Ohno (Professor of the University of Tokyo). 

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