University of Hawaii researcher Ryuzo Yanagimachi, who made history in 1998 with the first cloned mice, celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year with expectations of a huge federal grant to continue his legacy.

It came through yesterday: $10.5 million from the National institutes of Health over five years for the Institute for Biogenesis Research. It is one of only five awards nationally to centers for biomedical research excellence.

The biogenesis institute was established in 2000 on the Manoa campus after “;Team Yana”; received international notoriety for the first cloned mice and transgenic green mice.

The renowned fertility researcher and professor emeritus missed NIH's grant announcement. He is in China giving lectures, but he is “;really happy,”; said Dr. W. Steven Ward, interim institute director and principal investigator for the grant. “;He agrees with us that we've made it now.”;

It took two years to get the grant through NIH budget cuts and screening by a scientific committee, but it “;really establishes the center,”; he said.

Yanagimachi's Aug. 27 birthday was celebrated a few months early, on May 22, when the institute learned it had received a very high score for the grant.

“;That's when I was literally screaming,”; Ward said. “;I knew they couldn't not fund us.”;

Ward said it “;has pretty much doubled the amount of money”; the institute has brought in to the university the past eight years - about $12 million.

“;It establishes us as a competitive research institute focusing on reproductive biology,”; he said. “;It is taking Yana's work to the next level and expanding it.”;

Yanagimachi, former professor of anatomy and reproductive biology, was the only faculty member when the institute began in the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Now there are eight, including five junior investigators supported by the grant, Ward said.

Yanagimachi, called an “;ingenious scientist”; by Encyclopedia Britannica, has a long list of achievements. Among them, he and his partners developed in-vitro fertilization and intractoplasmic sperm injection - two key methods used internationally to help people have babies.

The young investigators will each develop some aspect of Yanagimachi's work, Ward said. “;Each one is a young Yana at this point.”; The five, including three who trained under Yanagimachi, are Vernadeth Alarcon, Abby Collier, Stefan Moisyadi, Monika Ward and Yukiko Yamazaki.