"Plasma membrane-dependent cellular senescence – another timekeeper of programmed aging" Dr. Keiko Kono

Dr. Keiko Kono

Lecturer

Medical Department and Graduate School of Medical Sciences

Nagoya City University

Biography

Keiko Kono received her B. Sc. in Plant Biology from the University of Tokyo, Japan. She then obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in the laboratory of Prof. Yoshikazu Ohya in March 2005, where she studied the molecular signaling governing cell polarization and cytokinesis using budding yeast as a model system. Following this, Keiko received postdoctoral training in Prof. David Pellman’s laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, USA, where she discovered the cellular wound healing in budding yeast. She was then appointed Lecturer and started her research unit in Prof. Makoto Nakanishi’s laboratory, at the Nagoya City University, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Japan, in April 2012. As a leader of the unit, Keiko unveiled the link between cellular wound healing and senescence in budding yeast and in human cells. Her ultimate goal is to decipher the secret of senescence, and to rejuvenate cells without manipulating chromosomes.