URA

I am Akira Tanaka, and was appointed as a university research administrator (URA) at the Institute of Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology on October 1, 2022. Until last year, I operated the consortium for JST’s OPERA project. I obtained a doctorate from he Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, and joined Mitsubishi Kasei (now Mitsubishi Chemical Group). I was engaged in plant genetic engineering research. After that, I was involved in business planning in the life science field and launching venture companies. I retired early from the company and has since been promoting a research enhancement program at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. In addition to returning the wonderful research results of FIRST to society, I hope to cultivate the seeds of new industries by further promoting joint research with other universities and companies.