Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo Department of
Integrated Biosciences

I spent all of my time until completing my master's degree in my hometown, Iwate, surrounded by rich nature. When I was a graduate student, I studied the regulation mechanism of gene expression using cultured rat cells. I finally left the Tohoku region when I was offered a job at a national research institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Tsukuba. Since 2000, I have been studying the extreme desiccation tolerance mechanism in the sleeping chironomid, an insect with the ability to survive drought. In the progress of this research, I identified important genes and metabolites involved in the desiccation tolerance Occasionally, I also conducted field sampling of insects that live in extreme environments. Currently, in collaboration with many research institutes in Japan and overseas, I am trying to get closer to the secret of the desiccation tolerance by combining cell engineering techniques such as genomics and genome editing technology using the dry-preservable cultured cell line (Pv11 cells) derived from the sleeping chironomid. Meanwhile, I am developing a technology for dry preservation of proteins and cells at room temperature by applying molecular mechanisms underlying the desiccation tolerance.