Fumitoshi Ishino

Fumitoshi Ishino is a Professor at the Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University. His group is interested the study of mammalian genetics and epigenetics. In particular, they are recently focusing their efforts on understanding the biological functions of LTR-retrotransposon derived genes in mammalian development as well as evolution.

He received his PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1983, and then worked as an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Applied Microbiology, the University of Tokyo. He moved to study in the laboratory of Azim Surani in 1990 as a research fellow funded by a grant by the Japanese Ministry of Education. In 1991, he was appointed Associate Professor at the Gene Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he began his work on genomic imprinting, a mammalian-specific epigenetic mechanism. His group has been identifying many important paternally and maternally expressed genes (Pegs and Megs), including Peg10 and Peg11/Rtl1.

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