Faculty
menbers
Professor Satoko Yoshida
Doctor of Science at The University of Tokyo. After studying mutualistic symbioses between plants and microbes in The Sainsbury Laboratory (JIC) in UK and Munich University in Germany, I started researches on parasitic plants in Orobanchaceae in RIKEN. Associate professor in NAIST from 2016.
Email satokoy[at]bs.naist.jp
Assistant Professor Takanori Wakatake
I did my master's and doctoral thesis in the group of Ken Shirasu at RIKEN, working on the development of haustorium in the parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum. After that, I moved to Würzburg in Germany to study the evolution of carnivorous plants. Then I returned to Japan and learned genomics for one year at NARO genetic resource research center using wild Vigna species. Now I restarted research on Orobanchaceae parasitic plants at NAIST as an assistant professor.
Assistant Professor Rikako Hirata
I received my Ph.D. in Applied Life Sciences from Osaka Prefecture University, in 2022. My doctoral work was on small RNAs in plants. In the same year, I joined Kyoto University, as a postdoctoral researcher and began studying symbiotic bacteria on leaves. I have been in my current position since 2026. Phyllosphere is a treasure trove of bacteria. We still do not know what most of them are doing there. I would like to work with students to uncover what they do. I also love the NAIST cafeteria.
Researcher
Park jihwan
Mengqi Cui
Yanmei Li
Research
assistants
Yuko Yoshimura
Maki Nozaki
Students
Chiharu Ito (D3)
Saori Suga (D3)
Tomohiro Hirai (D3)
Labiba Fairooz Atqiya (D3)
Xin Li (D3)
Luigi Engles Barroga (D2)
Ninghui Zhao (D2)
Go Ikegami (M2)
Eishu Iwane (M2)
Shun Kakiba (M2)
Fumi Kawaguchi (M2)
Hayato Shiroma (M2)
Akira Muraoka (M2)
Nanako Uenishi(M1)
Satoru Otsugu(M1)
Nao Okada(M1)
hammed Mousoon Sumaiya(M1)
Yasuhiro Matsuzaki(M1)
Haru Yazaki(M1)
Past members
March, 2026
Mina Otsu(Assistant Professor)
Yusa Kashiwase(Ph.D. student)
Mengqi CuiPh.D. student)
Yanmei LiPh.D. student)
Motoharu Okumi(M.S. student)
Risa Sasaki(M.S. student)
Moe Takahashi(M.S. student)
Saki Matsuoka(M.S. student)
Itsuki Yasuhara(M.S. student)
March, 2025
Shoko Inaba (Assistant Professor)
Mohd Hafifi Bin Abu Bakar (Ph.D. student)
Masaru Azumi (M.S. student)
Daichi Okada (Ph.D. student)
Kodai Kitano (M.S. student)
Rira Takada (M.S. student)
Chika Tuboyama (M.S. student)
March, 2024
Natsumi Aoki (Ph.D. student)
Mafrikhul Muttaqin (Ph.D. student)
Xiang Lei (Ph.D. student)
Ryoga Inoue (M.S. student)
Yuto Tokumoto (M.S. student)
September, 2023
Kee Yee Jia (Ph.D. student)
Zhang Xiang (Ph.D. student)
Mizuki Tanaka (M.S. student)
March, 2023
Kaori Furuta (Researcher)
Tomohiro Kawai (Ph.D. student)
Natsuki Sato (M.S. student)
November, 2022
Mayu Miyake (M.S. student)
September, 2022
Songkui Cui (Assistant Professor)
March, 2022
Syogo Wada (Ph.D. student→Researcher)
Momoko Yamaji (M.S. student)
Tomoaki Ota (M.S. student)
May, 2021
Nurebanumu Abudukelimu (Research assistant)
March, 2021
Mio Aizawa (M.S. student)
August, 2020
Auriane Fischer (Internship student)
March, 2019
Tomoya Kubota (M.S. student)
Midori Tanizawa (M.S. student)
March, 2019
Shota Shimada (M.S. student)
Natsumi Masumoto (M.S. student)
March, 2018
Natsumi Watanabe (M.S. student)