Message from Director

I am Yasuo Ohnishi, Director of the Agro-Biotechnology Research Center (AgTech), Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. I was appointed as the Director of the AgTech Center on April 1, 2024, following Dr. Keishi Senoo, the first Director of AgTech Center.

This research center originated in the Research Center for Bioproduction Engineering, which was established in 1993 as a joint research center within the university. Following the reorganization of the university, on April 1, 2021, the center made a new start as a research center affiliated with the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences. As of April 1, 2024, it consists of three core divisions (Laboratory of Environmental Biochemistry, Laboratory of Cell Biotechnology, and Laboratory of Plant Functional Biotechnology) and five affiliated divisions (Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Laboratory of Cellular Genetics, Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Laboratory of Computational Biology, and Laboratory of Forest Chemistry) from the Graduate School and two socially affiliated laboratories (Laboratory of Yeast and Fermentation and Laboratory of Microbial Ecotechnology).

The Agro-Biotechnology Research Center promotes world-leading, advanced basic agricultural research in various fields of agriculture, especially in important life phenomena involving microorganisms and plants, such as crop production, environmental remediation, and microbial utilization. To this end, we promote cross-disciplinary research within the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, maintain and develop our own common equipment, and make efforts toward shared use within the Graduate School. The Center, including the former Center, has been carrying out its mission to promote research and education in biotechnology, and has achieved top-level research results in Japan and the world. The reorganization three years ago made it possible to efficiently promote interdisciplinary collaborative research with a wide range of laboratories in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the Collaborative Research Institute for Innovative Microbiology (CRIIM), and our research activities have become even more active.

On the other hand, since the establishment of the former center, we have also been involved in education by accepting students and graduate students as a cooperative course in the Department of Biotechnology of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and have sent many excellent human resources into society.

The Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences has undergone a revolutionary period over the past several years, and organizational reforms, including department reorganization, have been discussed. Under these circumstances, AgTech's role within the Graduate School has become more significant than ever. I strongly hope that I will work together with the members of the Center to achieve the dramatic development of AgTech and the Graduate School.

We appreciate your understanding of and cooperation in this endeavor.

Yasuo Ohnishi, Director of Agro-Biotechnology Research Center