Urano DAISUKE, Ph.D.
Senior Principal Investigator


Dr. Daisuke Urano obtained his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from University of Tokyo (2002) and Ph.D. in Bioscience from Nara Institute of Science and Technology (2008). He conducted his postdoctoral training with Professor Alan M Jones at University of North Carolina (2015). He started his own laboratory at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) in December 2015.

You may wish to contact Dr Urano DAISUKE at:

Tel: (65) 6872 7423 or 6872 7093 (lab) Email: daisuke@tll.org.sg

For information on PhD studies at TLL, click HERE

 

Research Interests

  1. Evolutionary conservation and divergence of biological systems
  2. Rapid molecular breeding assisted with genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolic information
  3. Micro and nano technologies for precision agriculture
  4. Computer vision, optical sensors, and machine learning
  5. Lab & indoor farm automation, and indoor farm management

Research Summary

Precision Agriculture and Rapid Molecular Breeding Indoor vertical farming is an emerging trend in the urban agricultural industry. This modern farming platform provides precisely controlled environment for optimal crop production without being affected by climate changes. As a part of the nation-wide and interdisciplinary consortium, the precision agriculture team aims to develop (1) optical sensors and computer vision algorithms, (2) crop growth & farm management models, (3) new vegetable varieties using rapid molecular breeding technologies, and (4) micro and nano technologies for agri-drug delivery. These technology developments are indispensable to enable the next generation precision agriculture and to ensure Singapore’s and global food security. Relevant publications: Leong R (2018) Smart Plant Factory: The next generation indoor vertical farms 1: 301-323, Cao Y (2023) Advanced Materials, Boonyaves K (2023) Nano Letters, TLA discoveries (2021) https://medium.com/tla-discoveries Evolutionary conservation and divergence of biological systems Biological functions constrain the overall topology of biological networks (gene regulatory network, signalling network etc), while gene duplication and subsequent mutations confer evolutionary diversities to these networks. A rich genome dataset allows us to infer complexity, specificity, and divergence of extant biological networks in various species. Our network evolution team uses high throughput “omics” approaches to elucidate (1) an evolutionarily constrained, therefore biologically important biological networks in plant abiotic responses, then (2) discover genetic or pharmacological targets to improve plant traits under stress conditions. The team also aims to understand (3) how biological networks can be adapted and evolved in response to genetic and environmental changes. We focus on G protein signaling network and WRKY transcription factor network in several model plants. Relevant publications: Urano D (2012) Nature Cell Biology 14: 1079-88, Bradford W (2013) Science Signaling 6: ra37 (cover story), Urano D (2016) Science Signaling 9: ra93 (cover story), Wu TY (2021) Nature Plants 7: 787-99 (cover story), Boonyaves K (2022) Plant Physiology 190: 813-827, Wu TY (2022) Molecular Plant 15: 1889-1907, Leong R (2023) New Phytologist 237: 615-630 Lab Alumni, who contributed their invaluable time to our projects. Dr. Ting-Ying Wu (Academia Sinica, Taiwan): Journal of Experimental Botany (2020), Nature Plants (2021), Plant Cell (2022), Molecular Plant (2022) Dr. Kulaporn Boonyaves (Mahidol University, Thailand): Plant Physiology (2022), Nano Letters (2023)