UT Southwestern sleep researcher Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD, earned the Lasker Award for his work identifying the sleep-regulating brain peptide orexin, which has led to new treatments for sleep disorders.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Preeminent Research Recognition: Sleep researcher Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD, received the 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for discovering orexin and demonstrating its central role in narcolepsy.
- Mechanism of Sleep Regulation: Yanagisawa determined that orexin maintains wakefulness and that an absence of its activity causes the sudden daytime sleep episodes associated with narcolepsy.
- New Clinical Therapies: The findings led to orexin-blocking medications for insomnia and the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of oveporexton, an orexin-activating therapy for narcolepsy Type 1.
The Lasker Foundation has awarded the 2026 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award to sleep researcher Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD, for discovering orexin, a brain peptide that maintains wakefulness, and establishing that a deficiency in its action causes narcolepsy, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Yanagisawa conducted the award-winning research while serving as a full-time faculty member at UT Southwestern, where he spent more than 20 years. He is currently a part-time professor of molecular genetics at the Dallas institution and serves as director of the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. He shares the Lasker Award with Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, professor of sleep medicine at Stanford University, who independently discovered the role of orexin in sleep regulation.
“I am tremendously honored to receive the 2026 Lasker Award and particularly delighted to see the prestigious recognition given to the field of sleep science, which historically has received relatively little recognition from major academic awards,” said Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics at UT Southwestern.
Translating Sleep Science into Clinical Care
Orexin-focused research has yielded multiple clinical therapies for healthcare providers managing sleep pathology. These include orexin-receptor antagonists designed to treat insomnia, as well as an orexin-activating drug named oveporexton, which secured Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval last month to treat narcolepsy Type 1. Narcolepsy causes sudden sleep attacks and profound daytime sleepiness, affecting at least 1 in 2,000 individuals across the US.
“Dr. Yanagisawa’s research has the potential to help the millions worldwide who suffer from debilitating sleep disorders,” said Daniel K Podolsky, MD, president of UT Southwestern. “We are thrilled to see his discoveries that led to the development of groundbreaking therapies recognized by this year’s Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.”
Uncovering the Orexin Pathway
According to UT Southwestern, Yanagisawa identified orexin in 1998 while investigating molecules that bind orphan brain receptors. His laboratory isolated two peptides in an area of the brain associated with feeding and named them after the Greek word for appetite, orexis. When evaluating how a genetic deletion of orexin impacted nutritional intake in mice, investigators observed unexpected behavioral collapses during the night that mirrored human narcolepsy.
Concurrently, Mignot was studying canine models to isolate the genetic mutation responsible for inherited narcolepsy in two dog breeds, successfully identifying the orexin receptor-2 gene. The two independent research groups published their findings two weeks apart in 1999, according to the medical center.
“The work that has now culminated in the Lasker Award fundamentally changed our understanding of sleep biology and narcolepsy. Given the recent approval of drugs to treat narcolepsy, this work continues to improve the lives of patients around the world,” said Joel Elmquist, DVM, PhD, professor and vice chair of research in the department of internal medicine at UT Southwestern.
The Lasker Awards were founded in 1945 by Albert and Mary Woodard Lasker to recognize advancements in disease understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The 2026 honors are scheduled for presentation in New York on September 17.
Image: Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD, is being honored for his discovery of orexin, a brain peptide that maintains wakefulness.
Credit: Lasker Foundation
