I am a tenure-track PI at CIGENE , NMBU (equivalent to Assistant Professor in the US system). I am interested in revealing the biological basis and evolutionary history of various interesting species by using genomics, bioinformatics, and biostatistics.
External websites:
My Research Group , Google Scholar, Orcid
Employment History:
Tenure-Track Principal Investigator, Center for Integrative Genetics, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 11.2020-
Postdoctoral Scholar, Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago, 2.2020-10.2020, Advisor: Dr. Xuanyao Liu
Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, 4.2017-1.2020, Advisor: Dr. Omer Gokcumen
Education:
Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, 3. 2017 - Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Advisor: Dr. Takafumi Ishida
Thesis “Evolutionary Study on Deletion Polymorphism of the GSTM1 Gene in Humans”
BS Biological Anthropology, 3. 2012 - Faculty of Science. The University of Tokyo, Advisor: Dr. Takafumi Ishida
Research Grant:
2021 - 2024 Project: Unveiling the evolutionary and functional impact of genomic structural variants of Atlantic salmon
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: Researcher Project for Young Talents (FRIPRO) grant (NOK 8M, $ 940K) from the Research Council of Norway
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Publications
- Saitou M *., Resendez, S *, Pradhan AJ, Wu F., Lie NC, Hall, NJ Zhu Q., Reinholdt L., Satta Y., Nakagome. S, Hanchard NA, Churchill G., Lee C., Atilla-Gokcumen GE, Mu X., Gokcumen O., Sex-specific phenotypic effects and evolutionary history of an ancient deletion polymorphism of the human growth hormone receptor, Science Advances
- Saitou, M , Gaylord, E., Xu, D., Neznanova, L., Nathan, N., Grawe, A., Chang, L., Ryan, W., Ruhl, S., Knox, S., Gokcumen , O., Functional specialization of human salivary glands and origins of proteins intrinsic to human saliva, Cell Reports, Volume 33, Issue 7, 17 November 2020, 108402
- Saitou, M. , Gokcumen, O., Resolving the insertion sites of polymorphic duplications reveals a HERC2 haplotype under selection, Genome Biology and Evolution, Volume 11, Issue 6, June 2019, Pages 1679–1690
- Saitou, M. *, Lizardo DY. *, Taskent RO, Millner A, Atilla-Gokcumen, GE **, Gokcumen, O **. An evolutionary transcriptomics approach links CD36 to membrane remodeling in replicative senescence. Molecular Omics, 2018, 4,14: 237 [inside cover article] [* co-first author]
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Projects & research
Projects
The objective of this project is to reveal which and how genomic structural variants have driven adaptive evolution with the functional advantage in domesticated Atlantic salmon.
Leptospirosis is a zoonosis caused by bacteria called Leptospira. We want to clarify the role of possible maintenance hosts for the disease in Norway and understand the pathogens' virulence mechanisms better.
Areas of research
Theme:
- Aquaculture
- Biosciences