Noriko Osumi facts for kids
Noriko Osumi (大隅 典子, Ōsumi Noriko) is a Japanese neuroscientist. She was appointed as the Vice-president of Tohoku University in 2018, a Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, and the Director of the Core Center for Neuroscience at that university. Osumi also presided at the Molecular Biology Society of Japan, 2013-2014.
Biography
Graduate years
Osumi planned to be admitted to the graduate school as no resident internship was provided. Female researchers were, however, a minority at that time. In the end, she enrolled in the graduate school after being assisted by Prof. Kazuhiro Eto, her senior of the tennis club, who established a new laboratory with open environment.
In the laboratory, she researched the development of the face and neural crest cells. This field was only studied in that laboratory in Japan and even less than ten in the world. The research was realized in Tokyo Medical and Dental University, which is a comparatively small college, not one of the former imperial universities. This selection of a resistance dealing defined further directions of her research.
Career
After her graduate studies, Osumi initiated her career as a research associate in faculty of dentistry at her alma mater of Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
After engaging in a research associate for several years, Dr. Akira Kakizuka indicated that she had contributed our study as an assistant for a long period. Hence, Osumi resolved to be an independent researcher, moving to the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry as a section chief of the National Institute of Neuroscience in 1996. In this period, it was revealed that PAX6 gene acted to develop the brain in addition to the face, especially the eyes, that led her to research on the development of the brain. In 1998, she moved to Tohoku University as a first female professor at the graduate school of medicine. Furthermore, she was assigned to be a special advisor for gender equality in 2006, and served as a distinguished professor from 2008 to 2010 at Tohoku University. In 2018, she was appointed a vice president for public relations and promotion of diversity and a chief librarian of Tohoku University Library.
Current research topics
Osumi specializes in neuroscience (neuroembryology, developmental neuroscience) to reveal the scheme of human mind in terms of brain development. She retains a keen interest in psychiatric disorder, especially issues related to depression and autism. .....
