3 December 2024 – In high school, Momoko Ikeuchi conducted a simple experiment: she cut a flower petal and observed how it regenerated under specific conditions. The process of plant tissue regeneration fascinated her and set the stage for a lifelong passion for understanding how plants heal and rebuild themselves.
During her PhD at the University of Tokyo, Japan, Ikeuchi explored leaf development in Arabidopsis. For her postdoctoral research she joined RIKEN, where she studied how plant cells “reset” themselves to grow new parts. In 2019, she became associate professor at Niigata University and later joined the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. Her team studies the molecular mechanisms behind plant regeneration, focusing on how unorganized cells in a structure called callus self-organize into functional stem cell populations to form new organs such as leaves. Ikeuchi’s research aims to uncover fundamental principles of morphogenesis and cellular differentiation in plants — processes that are still poorly understood compared to similar phenomena in animals.
A key element of Ikeuchi’s vision is collaboration, and she considers her selection for the EMBO Young Investigator Programme “a really amazing opportunity for me to establish a network with the European scientific community.” She hopes to collaborate with mathematical biologists and theoretical scientists to apply new approaches to plant regeneration research. She is also excited about working with international experts to develop new techniques for guiding and controlling regeneration in plants.
