Research Area: Developmental biology, genomics

Location: Japan

Mikiko Siomi received her undergraduate degree from Gifu University, Faculty of Agriculture in 1984, followed by a Master’s degree from Kyoto University Graduate School of Agriculture in 1988. She earned a Ph.D. in Agriculture from Kyoto University in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Medicine from Tokushima University in 2003. After completing her doctoral training, she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, including time as a Research Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, where she investigated RNA biology and RNA-protein interactions. She subsequently held academic positions at the Genome Research Center of Tokushima University and later served as an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at Keio University before joining the Graduate School of Science at The University of Tokyo. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and in the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Tokyo. Professor Siomi’s research is dedicated to elucidating the molecular mechanisms of RNA silencing and small non-coding RNA pathways, with a particular focus on PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and their roles in safeguarding genomic integrity in germ cells. Her laboratory investigates the biogenesis and function of small RNAs in reproductive tissues, the repression of transposable elements, and the formation of the epigenome in model organisms such as Drosophila and mice. Her contributions to RNA biology have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the Naito Memorial Prize for the Promotion of Science (2023) and the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2024) for her research on molecular mechanisms essential for fertility maintenance. Siomi is widely regarded as a leading figure in small RNA research and continues to advance the field through both fundamental discovery and mentorship.

Web: https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/people/siomi_mikiko/