Kiyokazu Agata received his doctorate from Kyoto University in 1985 for his work on molecular cloning and gene expression of crystallin genes in chicken. From 1983 to 1991, he worked at the National Institute for Basic Biology, where he studied the molecular characteristics of dedifferentiated cells in transdifferentiation. He took an associate professorship at the Himeji Institute of Technology in 1991, and started his study of planarian regeneration with Kenji Watanabe. He remained at the Institute until 2000, when he left to assume a professorship at Okayama University. He joined the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology as a group director in 2000, where he remained until 2005, when he was appointed professor at the Kyoto University Department of Biophysics. His research focuses on developing a clearer understanding of the mechanisms regulating the planarian stem cell system and determining the signals involved in maintaining the totipotency of these cells and in activating them during regeneration.