Integrin research won Lasker Award in 2022 in the field of Basic Research. The researchers are Richard O Hynes, Errki Rouslahti, and Timothy A Springer. In 1987 the first heterodimer was found as a Fibronectin receptor by Rouslahti and Hynes independently. Rouslahti used short peptide containing RGD-tripeptide (Arg-Gly-Asp), the sequence contained in the binding site in Fibronectin type 3 repeat, which was published in the “Cell” journal. The first author Robert Pytera was recruited in UCSF and Dr. Yokosaki, CEO of ATI, learned and studied with him in the same Lung Biology Center.

Integrins—mediators of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion