Reiko Kuroda
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Reiko Kuroda
| native_name = 黒田 玲子
| image =
| birth_date = October 7 1947
| birth_place = Akita, Japan
| fields = Chemistry
| alma_mater = University of Tokyo
| workplaces = King's College London
Institute of Cancer Research
University of Tokyo
| awards = Sarahushi Prize
}}
{{short description|Japanese chemist}}
{{Nihongo|Reiko Kuroda|黒田 玲子|Kuroda Reiko|born October 7, 1947}}[http://www.iugs.org/PDF/NC_slate_complete.pdf International Council for Science (ICSU)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205080754/http://www.iugs.org/PDF/NC_slate_complete.pdf |date=2009-02-05 }}, candidate presentations, p. 22 is a Japanese chemist who is a professor at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo.{{cite web|title=Trend-Setting Women Scientists of Biomedical Research in Japan|url=http://wataminato.org/pdf/Trend_setting_women_scientists.pdf|publisher=International Journal of Medical Sciences|accessdate=7 November 2017}}
Early life and education
Kuroda was born in Akita but grew up in Miyagi, on the island of Honshu, Japan.{{Cite book|last=Hargittai|first=Magdolna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pEtnBgAAQBAJ&q=reiko+kuroda&pg=PA121|title=Women Scientists: Reflections, Challenges, and Breaking Boundaries|date=2015-03-04|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-935999-8|language=en}} She obtained her MSc (1972) and PhD (1975) in Chemistry from the University of Tokyo.{{Cite web|last=Crow|first=James Mitchell|title=The asymmetry problem|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/careers/the-asymmetry-problem/7052.article|access-date=2021-02-19|website=Chemistry World|language=en}} Her doctorate focused on determining the stereochemistry of metal complexes.
Career
After her PhD, Kuroda worked at King's College London and the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK before returning to Japan in 1986. In 1992 she became the first woman to be made full professor of natural sciences at the University of Tokyo.
Kuroda's field of research is primarily chirality within both inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry.[http://www.kva.se/en/News/News1/Two-prominent-researchers-elected-to-the-Academys-class-for-chemistry/ Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Two prominent researchers elected to the Academy's class for chemistry], press announcement, June 30, 2009 Part of her research has involved studying chirality in snail shells. Her work identified that the direction of the shell spiral is determined at very early stages of snail development.{{Cite web|last=Yong|first=Ed|date=2016-02-25|title=The Origin of Left and Right|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/02/the-origin-of-left-and-right/470805/|access-date=2021-02-19|website=The Atlantic|language=en}} Her team later used CRISPR genetic editing to show that this process is dependent on a single gene, Lsdia1.{{Cite news|last=Klein|first=JoAnna|date=2019-05-24|title=It's a Lefty! Welcome to the World's First Crispr Snail Baby (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/science/snails-lefties-crispr.html|access-date=2021-02-19|issn=0362-4331}}
Kuroda has established the Science Interpreter Training Program at the University of Tokyo and was appointed to serve as a governor for the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre in 2006. She has also served as Vice-President for External Relations in the International Science Council.
Honours and awards
in 1993, Kuroda received the Saruhashi Prize for esteemed female scientists.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2013-10-21|title=U.N. science board taps chemist Kuroda|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/21/national/u-n-science-board-taps-chemist-kuroda/|access-date=2021-02-19|website=The Japan Times|language=en-US}}
On June 10, 2009, Kuroda was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in its class for chemistry.
In 2013, Kuroda was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science.
She has been nominated for awards by the Human Frontier Science Programme (HFSP) and by AcademiaNet.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://bio.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/labs/kuroda/main_e.html Kuroda Research Group]
- [http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuroda, Reiko}}
Category:21st-century Japanese chemists
Category:Japanese women chemists
Category:Academic staff of the University of Tokyo
Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Category:Japanese women academics
Category:L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates
Category:21st-century Japanese women scientists