Curriculum Vitae
Date & Place of Birth: March 1, 1970, Tokyo, Japan
Work Address: Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan
E-mail: chiraok@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Education
B.Sc. Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1989-1993
M.Sc. Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1993-1995 (Tomoya Kitazume’s Group)
Ph.D. Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1995-1998 (Tomoya Kitazume’s Group)
Academic Carrier
JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC2) 1996-1998 (Tomoya Kitazume’s Group)
Postdoctoral Fellow 1998 – 1999 Institute for Molecular Science (Makoto Fujita’s Group)
Assistant Professor 1999 – 2001 Kanagawa Universit (Tsutomu Yokozawa’s Group)
Assistant Professor 2001 – 2007 The University of Tokyo (Mitsuhiko Shionoya’s Group)
Associate Professor 2007 – 2010 The University of Tokyo (Mitsuhiko Shionoya’s Group)
Professor 2010 – The University of Tokyo
2005 – 2009 Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), “Structure Control and Function” research area, Individual Researcher
Qualification & Award
2020 The 37th Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work
2009 Nozoe Memorial Award for Young Organic Chemists
2009 The Young Scientists’ Prize for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
2006 Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry (JSCC) Award for Research Advancement
2005 Visiting Professor, Université Louis Pasteur (Host: Prof. J.-P. Sauvage)
Research Interests
Development of discrete molecular self-assemblies in water based on “molecular Hozo”, which is a method to make the best use of van der Waals interactions and the hydrophobic effect, originally developed by our group
Molecular self-assembly processes, which are revealed by a novel method developed by our group (QASAP: quantitative analysis of self-assembly process) and a numerical approach (NASAP: numerical analysis of self-assembly process).
Artificial chemical systems like living systems based on molecular self-assmbly, such as dissipative self-assembly.
Favorite Cinema
Star Wars, The Godfather, The Godfather Part2, The Godfather Part3
Favorite Quote
“Do, or do not. There is no try.” –Yoda
Past Press Releases
Fundamental discoveries for future nanotools: Chemists distinguish multiple weak forces (December 12, 2019) [Link]
Chemists map an artificial molecular self-assembly pathway with complexities of life: The road less traveled (November 15, 2019) [Link]
Inspired by natural signals in living cells, researchers design artificial gas detector: Tiny box puts itself together and glows (September 13, 2019) [Link]
Just add heat to open this tiny box (March 29, 2019) [Link]
Don’t underestimate the Force (October 31, 2018) [Link]