KIYOTAKA OKADA
Dr. Kiyotaka Okada, Professor at the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, was born in Osaka, Japan in 1948. His Scientific education was started when he entered the Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University in 1967, and in Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University 1971-1975. In 1975, he received a position of Research Associate at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo in 1975. His major research in 1970-1986 was a study on genome structure of an E. coli bacteriophage and its replication. In 1982-1984, he was working on genomic cloning of human histocompatibility gene complex (HLA) as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Jack L. Strominger's laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University. His research project was changed to plant molecular biology in 1986, when he moved to National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) as a Research Associate. He was promoted to an associate professor of NIBB in 1989 and a professor of Kyoto University in 1995. The Major interests after 1986 are the generic control mechanism of flower development, of root development, root and stem responses to environmental stimuli, and of meristem formation and development of higher plants using a small model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana.
Dr. Okada was a board member of the following: Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB, 1998-), Member of the International Steering Committee of the Multinational Coordinated Arabidopsis Genome Research Project (1995-), Member of the council of the Botanical Society of Japan (1997-), Member of the council of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists (1996-), Member of the council of the Japanese Society of Plant Cell and Molecular Biology (1996-), Research Advisor of Kazusa DNA Research Institute (1996-), Member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of SCIENCE (1997-1999), Coeditor of THE PLANT CELL (1997-), Member of Editorial Board of CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY (1998-)