Japanese scientist wins Nobel medicine prize for work on 'self-eating' cell mechanism | Niklas Pollard & Kate Kelland

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Yoshinori Ohsumi, a professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology is pictured in Tokyo, Japan, March 25, 2015 in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

Oct. 3, 2016 -- STOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) -- Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi won the 2016 Nobel prize for medicine for ground-breaking experiments with yeast which exposed a key mechanism in the body's defenses where cells degrade and recycle their components.

Understanding the science behind the process, called "autophagy" or "self-eating," has led to a better understanding of diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's and type 2 diabetes, the prize committee said in its statement on Monday.

"Ohsumi's discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content," it said.