is a Japanese life scientist specializing in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

. He is a Professor Emeritus at

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and a former Guest Senior Researcher at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

Biography

He graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Konan High School in 1969 and from Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki in 1973. In 1979, he completed Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture,

and got Ph.D. in agriculture. After he completed the graduate school, he joined the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. In 1987, He retired the company and became an associate professor at University of Tokyo Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences (Department of Animal Resource Sciences and Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences). He received the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science Award for 1996. He became a professor at University of Tokyo Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences (Department of Animal Resource Sciences and Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences) in 1998. He also served as adjunct professors at National Institute of Genetics, Juntendo University and Kagoshima University. In 2013, Kunio Shiota and Koji Hayakawa's research team at University of Tokyo succeeded in the generation of orexin neurons from pluripotent stem cells (mouse embryonic stem cells) for the first time in the world. In 2016, he was given the title of Professor Emeritus at University of Tokyo and became a Guest Senior Researcher at

Research Institute for Science and Engineering.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiota, Kunio 1950 births Living people 21st-century Japanese biochemists Academic staff of the University of Tokyo University of Miyazaki alumni University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of Waseda University Scientists from Kagoshima Prefecture