World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Yoshihiro Kawaoka

Yoshihiro Kawaoka

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Best Scientists
2025
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Immunology
Japan
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Best Scientists

D-Index
167
Citations
112243
World Ranking
973
National Ranking
16

Immunology

D-Index
171
Citations
116586
World Ranking
53
National Ranking
3

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Immunology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Immunology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Immunology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Medicine in Japan Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Immunology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Medicine in Japan Leader Award
  • 2013 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2006 - Robert Koch Prize

Overview

Yoshihiro Kawaoka is affiliated with the University of Tokyo in Japan and has an extensive body of research primarily focused on infectious diseases and related medical fields. Their contributions include a significant number of publications addressing viral infections, with particular emphasis on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 research.

The main fields of study associated with Kawaoka include:

  • Medicine

Within Medicine, their subfields of study are:

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Epidemiology
  • Immunology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Animal Science and Zoology

The primary topics covered by their work include:

  • SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Influenza Virus Research Studies
  • COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Respiratory viral infections research
  • SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
  • Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology
  • Animal Virus Infections Studies

Kawaoka's research has been published in various scientific venues. The most frequent publication outlets are:

  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Nature Communications
  • Viruses
  • Nature

Notable recent papers authored or co-authored by Kawaoka include:

  • "Broadly neutralizing antibodies overcome SARS-CoV-2 Omicron antigenic shift," 2021, Nature
  • "Syrian hamsters as a small animal model for SARS-CoV-2 infection and countermeasure development," 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • "SARS-CoV-2 D614G variant exhibits efficient replication ex vivo and transmission in vivo," 2020, Science
  • "An infectious SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus escapes neutralization by therapeutic monoclonal antibodies," 2022, Nature Medicine
  • "SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus causes attenuated disease in mice and hamsters," 2022, Nature

Frequent co-authors who have collaborated with Kawaoka span a range of scientists involved in similar research areas, including:

  • Michael Diamond
  • Carrie Nicora
  • Kristin Burnum-Johnson
  • Richard Smith
  • Jennifer Kyle

Kawaoka has received several awards throughout their career, including:

  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013
  • Robert Koch Prize, 2006

Best Publications

  • Evolution and ecology of influenza A viruses.

    R G Webster;W J Bean;O T Gorman;T M Chambers

  • Emergence and pandemic potential of swine-origin H1N1 influenza virus.

    Gabriele Neumann;Takeshi Noda;Yoshihiro Kawaoka

  • Avian flu: influenza virus receptors in the human airway.

    Kyoko Shinya;Masahito Ebina;Shinya Yamada;Masao Ono

  • A DNA transfection system for generation of influenza A virus from eight plasmids

    Erich Hoffmann;Gabriele Neumann;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Gerd Hobom

  • Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets

    Masaki Imai;Tokiko Watanabe;Masato Hatta;Subash C. Das

  • Molecular Basis for High Virulence of Hong Kong H5N1 Influenza A Viruses

    Masato Hatta;Peng Gao;Peter Halfmann;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Yoshihiro Kawaoka

  • Generation of influenza A viruses entirely from cloned cDNAs

    Gabriele Neumann;Tokiko Watanabe;Hiroshi Ito;Shinji Watanabe

  • Molecular Basis for the Generation in Pigs of Influenza A Viruses with Pandemic Potential

    Toshihiro Ito;J. Nelson S. S. Couceiro;Sørge Kelm;Linda G. Baum

  • In vitro and in vivo characterization of new swine-origin H1N1 influenza viruses

    Yasushi Itoh;Kyoko Shinya;Maki Kiso;Tokiko Watanabe

  • Avian-to-human transmission of the PB1 gene of influenza A viruses in the 1957 and 1968 pandemics.

    Y Kawaoka;S Krauss;R G Webster

  • Aberrant innate immune response in lethal infection of macaques with the 1918 influenza virus

    Darwyn Kobasa;Steven M. Jones;Steven M. Jones;Kyoko Shinya;John C. Kash

  • Early Alterations of the Receptor-Binding Properties of H1, H2, and H3 Avian Influenza Virus Hemagglutinins after Their Introduction into Mammals

    Mikhail Matrosovich;Alexander Tuzikov;Nikolai Bovin;Alexandra Gambaryan

  • Receptor specificity in human, avian, and equine H2 and H3 influenza virus isolates.

    Robert J. Connor;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Robert G. Webster;James C. Paulson

  • Syrian hamsters as a small animal model for SARS-CoV-2 infection and countermeasure development.

    Masaki Imai;Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto;Masato Hatta;Samantha Loeber

  • Resistant influenza A viruses in children treated with oseltamivir: descriptive study

    Maki Kiso;Keiko Mitamura;Yuko Sakai-Tagawa;Kyoko Shiraishi

  • Influenza: lessons from past pandemics, warnings from current incidents

    Taisuke Horimoto;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Yoshihiro Kawaoka

  • SARS-CoV-2 D614G variant exhibits efficient replication ex vivo and transmission in vivo

    Yixuan J. Hou;Shiho Chiba;Peter Halfmann;Camille Ehre

  • Pandemic Threat Posed by Avian Influenza A Viruses

    Taisuke Horimoto;Taisuke Horimoto;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Yoshihiro Kawaoka

  • The Surface Glycoproteins of H5 Influenza Viruses Isolated from Humans, Chickens, and Wild Aquatic Birds Have Distinguishable Properties

    Mikhail Matrosovich;Nannan Zhou;Yoshihiro Kawaoka;Robert Webster;Robert Webster

  • Avian flu: isolation of drug-resistant H5N1 virus.

    Q. Mai Le;Maki Kiso;Kazuhiko Someya;Yuko T. Sakai

Frequent Co-Authors

Gabriele Neumann
Gabriele Neumann University of Wisconsin–Madison
Masato Hatta
Masato Hatta University of Wisconsin–Madison
Takeshi Noda
Takeshi Noda Osaka University
Robert G. Webster
Robert G. Webster St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Shinji Watanabe
Shinji Watanabe National Institutes of Health
Taisuke Horimoto
Taisuke Horimoto University of Tokyo
Ayato Takada
Ayato Takada Hokkaido University
Heinz Feldmann
Heinz Feldmann National Institutes of Health
Hiroshi Kida
Hiroshi Kida Hokkaido University
Tokiko Watanabe
Tokiko Watanabe Osaka University

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