Naoto Ueno

Naoto Ueno obtained his Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of Tsukuba. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and contributed to the discovery of inhibin, activin, follistatin, and fibroblast growth factors (FGFs). In 1988, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba. Since that appointment, his research interest has turned to developmental biology, with a focus on the function of growth factor in embryogenesis, particularly in pattern formation and morphogenesis, which led to the identification of activin as a potent mesoderm-inducing factor in Xenopus. In 1993, he became a full professor at Hokkaido University. His identification in 1994 of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) as the endogenous signal responsible for the dorsoventral patterning of the Xenopus embryo is recognized as a major contribution to the field of developmental biology. Since then, his lab's efforts have focused on clarifying extra- and intra-cellular regulation of growth factor signaling. From 1997 to present, he has been a professor at the National Institute for Basic Biology. His group is currently interested in the cellular morphogenesis and cell movements during gastrulation and neural tube closure that lead to dynamic changes in embryo shape. He serves as the president of International Society for Differentiation from 2008 and editorial board member of several journals including Development. He was awarded the gold medal from Tokyo Techno-Forum21 in 1988 for the discovery of the role of BMPs in embryonic development.