On April 1, the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology welcomed Hiroshi Hamada, a professor in the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University as the new center director.

Dr. Hamada is a respected scientist, well known in the developmental biology field for his research on the establishment of the body axes in mammals. His current research interests are in understanding the mechanisms of symmetry breaking in early embryonic development and how this influences the formation of asymmetrically shaped organs.

On his appointment as center director, he stated, “On the management side, I hope that we can work to increase the transparency of the CDB. And on the research side, I would like to ensure that we take heed of the balance between basic and applied research as well as create an environment that fosters, especially for younger scientists, the pursuit of challenging research aimed at discovering the true essence of biological phenomena.”

Dr. Hamada will hold a joint appointment with Osaka University for this fiscal year.