New Delhi: Today’s Google doodle commemorated the birth anniversary of Japanese virologist Dr Michiaki Takahashi who was responsible for developing the first vaccine against chickenpox.
The doodle has been illustrated by Tokyo, Japan-based guest artist Tatsuro Kiuchi.
Takahashi’s lifesaving vaccine, which has been utilized over the years in over 80 countries, has been administered to millions of children around the world as an effective measure to prevent chickenpox disease.
Born in 1928, Takahashi earned his medical degree from Osaka University and joined the Research Institute for Microbial Disease in 1959. He studied measles and polio viruses, and accepted a research fellowship in 1963 at Baylor College in the US. During this period, Takahashi’s son developed a serious bout of chickenpox, which prompted the Japanese researcher to turn his expertise toward combating the highly transmissible disease.
Takahashi developed the varicella vaccine after culturing live but weakened chickenpox viruses in animal and human tissue. The vaccine was proven to be extremely effective during the subsequent rigorous research with immunosuppressed patients. In 1986, the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases began the vaccine rollout in Japan as the only varicella vaccine approved by the WHO.
He was later appointed the director of Osaka University’s Microbial Disease Study Group, a position he held until his retirement.
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