DATE2025.12.22 #Awards & Prizes

Professor Misato Ohtani Receives the “Kono Yasui Prize”

 Professor Misato Ohtani

Professor Misato Ohtani of the Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, has been selected as the recipient of the 10th Kono Yasui Prize, an honor bestowed by Ochanomizu University. The award ceremony will be held at Ochanomizu University on February 17, 2026.

The Kono Yasui Prize was established to honor women researchers who have made outstanding achievements in the biological sciences and related fields, with the aim of carrying forward the spirit of Dr. Kono Yasui—who mentored many female students at Ochanomizu University and its predecessor institutions—to inspire future generations (Source: Ochanomizu University website).

Professor Ohtani has made significant contributions to plant science, particularly through elucidating the roles of RNA processing in the regulation of cellular totipotency, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying the differentiation of woody cells and water-conducting cells. She has proposed many novel concepts, including the essential roles of RNA metabolism dynamics in plant physiology, and an evolutionary scenario in which the differentiation of water-conducting cells emerged through the acquisition of specific molecular mechanisms during the land plant evolution.

Dr. Kono Yasui is renowned as the first woman to receive a doctoral degree (Doctor of Science) from a Japanese university, awarded in 1927. Her degree was conferred by the Department of Botany, one of the predecessors of the Department of Biological Sciences, where Professor Ohtani is currently affiliated. In recent years, the Department of Botany has attracted renewed public attention through NHK’s serialized morning drama Ranman. Nearly 100 years after Dr. Yasui conducted her pioneering research, Professor Ohtani joined the same lineage of the genetics laboratory. We celebrate the continuation of this distinguished legacy and look forward to Professor Ohtani’s continued achievements.

（Written by Professor Tetsuya Higashiyama, Department of Biological Sciences）