Dr. Yuki Mitaka
Postdoctoral Fellow from Kyoto University, Japan
I have been interested in the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms of pheromone communication and the division of labor in social insects since I was a student.
I graduated in 2017 with a Ph.D. in Agriculture in the Laboratory of Insect Ecology (Kenji Matsuura’s lab) in Kyoto University, Japan. While I was a Ph.D. student, I revealed the division of labor at the level of gene expression and discovered a new multi-functional soldier pheromone in the Japanese subterranean termite Reticulitermes speratus.
For the next 4 years I worked as a postdoc in the above lab and as a JSPS Postdoctoral fellow in the Applied Entomology Laboratory (Toshiharu Akino’s lab) in Kyoto Institute of Technology to mainly identify an aggregation pheromone in R. speratus. As studies other than termite pheromone communication, I also investigated the differential expression of epigenetic modification-related genes among castes in R. speratus and evaluate the quality of medium for termite breeding.
In 2022, I joined Ed Vargo’s lab in Texas A&M University as JSPS Overseas Fellow to elucidate termite advanced chemical communication system via aggregation pheromones in termites, using Reticulitermes species.
Education (CV)
Ph.D. Agriculture, 2017, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
M.S. Agriculture, 2014, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
B.S. Agriculture, 2012, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Research interests
- Pheromone communication
- Chemical ecology
- Social insects (especially termites)
- Insect behavior
- Insect molecular biology
Contact Information
Email: ymitaka02@gmail.com
Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/site/yukimitakawebsite/
Publications
See my Google Scholar