Kozo WATANABE

Utilizing genome analysis, the following research initiatives are being undertaken with a focus on Southeast and South Asia, aiming to contribute to ecosystem conservation and One Health:

<1. Biodiversity> Evaluating biodiversity and gaining insights into the evolutionary processes of organisms (aquatic insects, sea cucumbers, fish, bacteria) in aquatic environments, alongside analyzing environmental DNA.
<2. Mosquito-borne Infectious Diseases> Developing methods for ecological control of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria in tropical and subtropical countories.
<3. Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria> Examining the emergence and transmission of antibiotic resistance genes across wide environments including hospitals, livestock, aquaculture, and aquatic environments.
<4. Environmental Viruses> Enabling the early detection of both known and novel pathogenic viruses in sewage, coupled with using phage therapy to control pathogenic bacteria.

Keywords: Next-generation sequencing (NGS), bioinformatics, water environments, biodiversity, mosquito-borne diseases, tropical medicine, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), viruses