Prof. NAKAJIMA Keiji
SNS :
Please tell us about your own research and what you find interesting about it.
We are studying the mechanisms by which plants regulate their morphology and functions in response to environmental fluctuation, with a particular focus on dynamic changes in gene expression and tissue organization. We are developing unique microscopy systems and image processing techniques to visualize dynamic changes in cell and organelle morphology and tissue functions and further link them to operating mechanisms. The most exciting point of our research is that even graduate students have the possibility to achieve world-leading discoveries with their own ideas and efforts.
Please tell us about the difficulties and joys of the research field.
There is always hardship in research, but I think the hardship itself is the joy of research. It is a privilege for researchers and artists to be able to struggle with what they want to know and what they want to create. Even if each piece of data collected in daily experiments does not make sense, one day they are suddenly connected and lead to new discoveries. The final joy of the research is to compile them into a paper and publish it for the research community and society.
Please tell us about the expected results and social significance of the project.
The model answer would be that solving the problem of how plants optimize their own growth under fluctuating conditions will provide fundamental knowledge for building a sustainable society, such as increasing food production and solving environmental problems. But isn't the fact that there are laboratories that devote their souls to finding answers to fundamental questions in biology, and that such research activities are responsible for graduate school education, significant in itself for society?
A message of support for students who are about to take the exam
NAIST welcomes students who want to change their field of specialization and take on new research challenges. The scope of research in bioscience is much deeper than you might think. Don't be limited by your current knowledge and assumptions, and don't hesitate to contact us to find a laboratory where you can enjoy your research.
What websites, books, review articles, and so on, do you recommend for studying in order to apply for the lab ?
- Hisanaga,T., Yamaoka, S., Kawashima, T., Higo, A., Nakajima, K., Araki, T., Kohchi, T. and Berger, F., Building new insights in plant gametogenesis from an evolutionary perspective. Nature Plants 5, 663-669 (2019).
- Hisanaga, T, Miyashima, S. and Nakajima, K., Small RNAs as positional signal for pattern formation. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 21, 37-42 (2014).
What do you do to keep yourself fresh?
Fishing, camping, carpentry, photography, and tinkering in the garden.