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Sen-itiroh Hakomori graduated from Tohoku Univ. School of Medicine, Japan.  He started his research career in glycoscience at the Dept. of Biochemistry at the same university (mentor, the late Prof. Hajime Masamune).  He earned his Dr. Med. Sci at the same university in 1956, and conducted postdoctoral research as a Fulbright Fellow at Harvard Medical School, 1956-58 (mentor, Prof. Roger W. Jeanloz).  Since 1970, he has been Prof. of Pathobiology, Univ. of Washington.  He has been Head, Program of Biochemical Oncology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (1975-1987);  Scientific Director, The Biomembrane Institute (1987-1996);  and Head, Division of Biomembrane Research, Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, WA (1996-present).
      Dr. Hakomori's scientific career has been devoted to studies on structure, and function of glycosphingolipids (GSLs).  His initial studies were characterization of novel extended lacto-series and globo-series structures, including A1, A2, H, I/i, Lex, Ley, sialyl-Lex, and globo-ABH, some of which were identified as developmentally-regulated or tumor-associated antigens.  His group was the first to identify tumor-associated antigens as GSLs, providing the basis for diagnosis and treatment of human cancer.  More recently, they have been studying functional roles of GSLs in defining cell adhesion and signal transduction.  For example, they were the first to characterize the effect of gangliosides on growth factor receptor function, in terms of inhibitory or promoting effect on receptor-associated tyrosine phosphorylation.  They pioneered the elucidation of GSLs as adhesion molecules based on carbohydrate-to-carbohydrate interaction.  They provided clear evidence that GSLs or other glycoconjugates, organized in microdomains, define cell adhesion coupled with signal transduction.  Subsidiary studies, such as discovery of cell surface fibronectin and its deletion during transformation, and defining of ABO gene structure, also resulted from their studies.  Hakomori's major honors are the Philip Levine Immunohematology Award (1984), Asahi Prize for Culture (1990), Morton Award (British Biochemical Society, 1994), Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Univ. of Helsinki, Finland, 1994), and Karl Meyer Award (Society of Glycobiology, 1995).  He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and named as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, in 2000.
            He has 530 original publications in peer-reviewed journals, and 145 solicited review articles or book chapters, as of Nov 2005.