Ken Shirasu

Graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, University of Tokyo in 1988. Obtained a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California, Davis, in 1993. Since 1993, has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Noble Research Institute in the United States. From 1996, a researcher at the Sainsbury Laboratory in the UK, and a group leader there since 2000. Consistently engaged in research on plant-pathogen interactions. Current position since 2005. Since 2008, Professor (concurrently serving) at the Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo. Received the Kiwara Memorial Foundation Academic Award in 2011 and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in Science and Technology in 2021. Principal researcher at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Academic Systems Research Center from 2017 to 2020. Since 2020, Deputy Director of the RKEN Center for Sustainalbe Resource Science.