Keiko Yoshioka

Dr. Keiko Yoshioka is a Professor at the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. She has obtained her Ph.D. in plant molecular biology at Hokkaido University for a joint project with the National Institute of Agrobiological Science (NIAS) (Japan). She was a postdoctoral researcher at the RIKEN Institute (Japan) and the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers of the State University of New Jersey (USA), and a Research Associate at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University (USA) prior to her appointment at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Yoshioka's current research endeavors focus on signal transduction of stress responses in plants with an emphasis on immunity, and the generation of stress tolerant (pathogen resistant) crop plants. Understanding the molecular mechanism of plant defense systems is critical in determining how plants defend themselves against various stresses, including pathogens and applying this knowledge to improve agricultural production and protect environment against possible negative impact from pesticides and fungicides. The long-term goal of Yoshioka laboratory is to understand how plants transmit the intra- and inter-cellular signals of various environmental stresses including pathogen infection. To achieve this goal, they are using both forward and reverse genetics approaches to identifying novel components (genes/proteins) that are involved in plant immunity.

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