Shinya OKI (Professor)

Shinya graduated from the School of Engineering, Osaka Univ in 2000. He then entered the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka Univ, and graduated in 2007 (Doctor of Medicine). From the same year, he served as Assistant Professor and then Lecturer at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyushu Univ, and since 2020, he has held the position of Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto Univ. He assumed his current position in August, 2023.

Shinya has been involved in mouse developmental biology research for more than a decade since his graduate school days. Convinced that a data-driven approach is essential to unravel the mysteries of spatiotemporal gene expression, he became immersed in data analysis using supercomputers in his mid-thirties. In addition, he was also deeply involved in the development of spatial omics technologies, all of which have led to the present day. With a dual focus on data analysis and technological advancement, his goal is to unravel the mysteries of developmental phenomena while advancing applications in medicine and drug discovery.

Hobbies: enjoying alcohol while cooking, exploring Buddhist statues, mountain climbing.

Ryuichi KIMURA (Assistant Professor)

Ryuichi graduated from Kitasato Univ School of Science in 2010. He then completed the Ph.D. program at Tohoku Univ Graduate School of Medicine in 2015 (Doctor of Medicine). From the same year, he served as an assistant professor at the Tohoku Univ Graduate School of Medicine, and since 2020, he has held the position of assistant professor at the Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto Univ. He assumed his current position in April 2024.

Zhaonan ZOU (Assistant Professor)

Zhaonan was born Shenyang, Mainland China. He graduated from the Department of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine, Kyushu Univ, in 2017, and completed the Ph.D. program at Kyoto Univ Graduate School of Medicine in 2023 (Doctor of Medical Science). From the same year, he served a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, and assumed his current position in April 2024.

During his time at Kyushu Univ, Zhaonan was affiliated with a developmental biology research laboratory, where he focused on elucidating the mechanisms underlying fetal malformation due to maternal diabetes. He acquired techniques in anatomy and molecular biology experiments from this experience. As the research progressed, he recognized the potential to identify environmental factors and drug targets in a data-driven manner by integrating analysis of bio-big data by incorporating methods from computational science. Subsequently, he joined the Oki Lab at Kyoto Univ. since the Ph.D. program, and this trajectory continues to the present.