I conduct developmental and evo-devo research focusing on the morphogenesis using sponges (porifera)—one of the earliest-branching metazoan lineages—as a model.  My current projects address two major questions: the origin and early evolution of the metazoan body plan, and the developmental mechanisms underlying spicule-based skeletal formation in sponges. 

As the initiator and organizer of the Evo-Devo no tsudoi, a community for young evo-devo researchers, and as an administrative member of the Society of Young Developmental Biologists (SYDB), I work to promote interaction among early-career scientists and to further expand developmental and evo-devo research communities in Japan.  I also launched a new organization called YoungBioNet, which strives to create an open and accessible environment where anyone, from anywhere, can discover and participate in the diverse activities of young researchers across all fields of biology. I am actively engaged in outreach to share the excitement of biology and scientific research with society—especially with children.

Broadly, I aim to investigate how observable phenotypes arise from the interactions between intrinsic developmental potentials and external environmental factors. By elucidating the nature of these intrinsic potentials and the mechanisms that determine them, I hope to uncover the mechanism of the evolution of complex morphological diversification and universality, the internal requirements that enabled the evolution of multicellularity and embryogenesis. Ultimately, I seek to contribute to the estabrishment of a framework for predicting evolutionary outcomes.