Motomu Kanai
Professor, The University of Tokyo
Motomu Kanai obtained an assistant professor position in Professor Kiyoshi Tomioka's group of Osaka University in the middle of his PhD course in UTokyo 1992). He obtained his PhD from Osaka University in 1995. Then, he moved to University of Wisconsin, USA, for postdoctoral studies under Professor Laura L. Kiessling. In 1997 he returned to Japan and joined Professor Masakatsu Shibasaki's group in UTokyo as an assistant professor. After doing lecturer (2000~2003) and associate professor (2003~2010), he was promoted to a professor in UTokyo (since 2010). He received The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists (2001), Thieme Journals Award (2003), Merck-Banyu Lectureship Award (MBLA: 2005), Asian Core Program Lectureship Award (2008 and 2010), Thomson-Reuters The 4th Research Front Award (2016), and Nagoya Silver Medal (2020). His research interests entail design and synthesis of functional (especially, biologically active) molecules.