Hirofumi Ishihara: Plant Physiology First Author

Hirofumi Ishihara, first author of “Rising rates of starch degradation during daytime and trehalose 6-phosphate optimize carbon availability”

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, the University of Helsinki

Education: PhD in Bioinformatics and Genome research, Bielefeld University, Germany

Non-scientific Interests: practicing Iaido, skiing, running, reading

Brief bio:

During my research career, I have been interested in understanding the mechanisms of plant growth. My previous research in the group of Prof. Mark Stitt at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology addressed two main topics. In one, I developed a new method to quantify the rate of protein synthesis and cell wall synthesis and used it to investigate changes in growth rates in the diel light/dark cycle, as well as the impact of protein turnover on growth rate in different Arabidopsis accessions. In the second, I investigated the regulation of carbon allocation during the diel light/dark cycle. In both topics, my experimental approach included use of ¹³CO₂ labelling combined with liquid or gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. In my current research at the University of Helsinki, I am investigating how different type of light spectrum change quality of leafy vegetables using system-oriented approaches and multilevel “omics” as tools.