Division of Biological Science
Introduction & Policy Outline
The Division of Biological Science promotes education and research intended for various vital phenomena of the diversified living beings interacting on earth. It does so through macro research (ecology, ethology, systematic biology, and anthropology, etc.) conducted in an ongoing tradition of Kyoto University which prizes fieldwork, and integrates it with state-of-the-art micro research (cytology, gene study, embryology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, etc.).
The Division of Biological Science consists of the three departments of zoology, botany, and biophysics. In the Department of Zoology, we promote research for the principle understanding of living beings and of the diversity of the world in which living creatures reside. The Department of Botany and the Department of Biophysics conduct advanced research for the understanding of biodiversity and the definition of life.
Division of Biological Science (external link)
Department of Zoology
The Department of Zoology consists of the following three groups:
In the Natural History Group, we advance the research of the function and mechanism of animal behavior, the research of classification, systematics, and biogeography of vertebrates, the structure of fish communities and dynamics of laterality, and the research of speciation and diversity maintenance mechanisms of insects and fish.
In the Zoology Group, we conduct research to clarify the molecular mechanism of animal speciation and the relation between generation and evolution, determination of the complete genome base sequence of prochordata, and the mechanism of speciation and the restraint of gene-mutation.
In the Anthropology Group, we work to enhance field study research of primates other than humans, research of the social and ecological study of humans in traditional societies, morphological investigation of fossils of Hominoidea, and research on the paleoenvironment, in order to clarify the Homo sapiens position in nature and the process of our evolution.
| Research Fields: |
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| Systematic Zoology / Ethology / Animal Ecology / Developmental Biology / Stress Response Biology / Physical Anthropology / Human Evolution Studies |
Department of Zoology (external link)
Department of Botany
The Department of Botany consists of two groups:
In the Molecular Plant Sciences Group, we study molecular mechanisms underlying reception and transduction of outer environmental signals, biological timing system and its diversification, morphogenesis in primitive multicellular eukaryotes, functional differentiation of organelles of plant cells, and regulation of photosynthesis.
The Plant Systematics and Evolution Group comprehensively analyzes information such as the morphological characteristics of plants, genome sequences and allozyme polymorphisms to clarify plant diversity and the process of phylogenetic evolution.
| Research Fields: |
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| Plant Physiology / Cell Differentiation and Morphogenesis / Plant Molecular Biology / Plant Molecular Genetics / Plant Systematics |
Department of Botany (external link)
Department of Biophysics
The Department of Biophysics consists of three Groups:
The Integration Biology Group elucidates the molecular mechanism of expression, maintenance, and regulation of synaptic plasticity, studies the molecular mechanism of evolution and the diversity of living organisms, and promotes the theoretical study of the structure and function of biomolecules.
In the Signal Biology Group, we research the structure & function of membrane proteins concerning information transport, and the molecular mechanism which adjusts the expression of genome information.
The Systems Biology Group investigates the molecular mechanism of sight, and the molecular mechanism of central nervous system formation with a focus on planaria.
| Research Fields: |
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| Structural Physiology / Molecular Biology / NeuroScience / Theoretical Biophysics / Molecular Physiology / Molecular Developmental Biology |
Department of Biophysics (external link)