I am a zoologist deeply loving colonial ascidians and interested in their life. I am also interested in the life of other tunicates including pelagic tunicates.

As a sessile organism who cannot escape from dangers in habitat, the functions of integumentary tissues should be very important to survive in hazardous environment. Morphological and functional diversity of the tunic is one of my main subject to be explored.

The major component of tunic is cellulose: tunicates are the only metazoan group that can synthesize cellulose. Thus, cellulosic integument, such as tunic, is a synapomorphy of tunicates (= urochordates). Various types of cells, called tunic cells, are distributed in the tunic matrix, and they are involved in various function of the tunic.

Algal symbiosis is another research subject in these years, since some colonial ascidians harbor cyanophytes. Tunic and tunic cells are often involved in the process of transmission of the algal symbionts from the mother colony to their progeny. I also study some other photosymbiotic metazoans inhabiting coral reefs.

Nano-scale nipple array on the body surface is my latest research topic. I wish to understand why various invertebrates have such a structures from the view point of function and evolution.