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It is with great sadness that I must report the untimely passing of Shoichiro Tsukita, taken by cancer Sunday, December 11th in Kyoto, where he served as Professor of Cell Biology. Shoichiro was a good friend, a wonderful human being, and one of the finest cell biologists in the history of our field. As a faithful supporter and long-time Editorial Board member, Shoichiro will be especially missed by those of us at the JCB.
Over a long and distinguished career, Shoichiro Tsukita was responsible for the discovery of critically important components of the junctional complex, most notably the family of occludins and claudins. Shoichiro's work not only defined the existence of these proteins, but also their functions, clarifying fundamentally our understanding of epithelial cell biology and providing cell biological insight into an array of human genetic disorders affecting the activity of tight junctions. And not coincidentally, all of Shoichiro's most important papers were published, and published proudly, by the JCB. In fact, Shoichiro published a total of 66 papers in the JCB during his career.
Ironically, the current issue of the JCB contains yet another wonderful contribution from Shoichiro and his colleagues, introducing us to yet another functionally important member of the junctional complex protein family, tricellulin. It will sadly be up to others, however, to finish characterizing tricellulin's complete significance in stabilizing complex junctional arrays. Given the number of scientific lives that Shoichiro Tsukita has touched, it is certain that his scientific legacy will be in good hands. He will, nevertheless, be deeply and profoundly missed by us all. Our heartfelt sympathies are offered to Shoichiro's wife Sachiko Tsukita and to his family.
At a later time, the JCB will publish an article devoted to Shoichiro Tsukita's work.
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