Astrobiology: From the Origins of Life to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Author Biography

Akihiko Yamagishi Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science. He received Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo. He had been the representative of Japan Astrobiology Network for ten years. He is a microbiologist especially interested in thermophiles and airborne microbes.  He is the Principal Investigator of the space experiment "Tanpopo" carried on International Space Station. He is also interested in molecular evolution and succeeded in resurrecting the ancient protein that was possessed by the common ancestor of all the living organisms about 4 billion years ago.   Takeshi Kakegawa Professor of geochemistry at Tohoku University.  He received Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University. He has been finding traces of life in ancient rocks. He and his colleagues were performing unique experiments to synthesize prebiotic organic molecules. He is trying to integrate geological and chemical information together to find theplausible pathway for the origin of life on the Earth. He is the fellow of honorable society of Phi Kappa Phi.    Tomohiro Usui Professor of Department of Solar System Sciences, Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.  He received a diploma in geology from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He finished Ph.D. (geochemistry) under the supervision of Prof. Eizo Nakamura at the Institute for Study of the Earth’s Interior (ISEI), Misasa in 2004. Thereafter, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the University of Tennessee and NASA Johnson Space Center. In April 2012 he joined the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology as a faculty member. His current research interest includes the historical evolution of climate, oceans/lakes, and habitability on Mars.