Public University Corporation Yokohama City University (YCU)

YCU was founded in 1949 and today the University comprises two faculties: The International College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine at four campuses located across Yokohama. Each campus houses YCU’s various graduate schools and research centres. With around 5000 students and 700 academic employees, YCU host an Advanced Medical Research Centre that conducts world-class research in medicine and life sciences and the Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities that strives to resolve urban issues concentrated in Asia.

In the Faculty of Sciences, our main goal is to have an integrated understanding of the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science and Mathematics, and to take a multifaceted approach to natural phenomena from both physical and life perspectives.

Taisen is an endocrinologist with over 40 years of experience in comparative endocrinology including over 20 years of experience in endocrine disruptor research in fish, amphibian, reptilian and invertebrates including Daphnids. He was an emeritus professor at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) in Japan, then moved to YCU in 2016. He was visiting professor at University of Florida and Medical University of South Carolina, USA, and Honorary Professor of University of Exeter, UK. He was head of the Environmental Endocrinology at the NIBB and supervised over 100 Diploma/Master students, 20 PhD students, and is now working as special project professor at YCU. Taisen is a chair of UK-Japan research collaboration and US-Japan bilateral meeting funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOE), concerning endocrine disrupting chemicals research. Taisen has been serving OECD Validation Management of Ecotoxicity (VMGeco), EAGMST, EDTA etc., since 1997, and currently co-chair of the VMGeco. He is a committee member of the Food Safety in the Cabinet of Japan. Taisen established reporter gene assay systems of medaka fish oestrogen receptor and androgen receptor, Xenopus tropicalis thyroid hormone receptor beta, and ecdysone receptor and juvenile hormone receptor of Daphnids for screening of chemicals for the MOE. Taisen is a member of the OECD Fish Drafting Group, the Endocrine Disruptors Working Group and the Amphibian Expert Group. Taisen has made major contributions to the drafting and validation of OECD endocrine disruption-related OECD TG 229, 230, 231, 234, 240, 241 and 211. Taisen will support the ERGO development of biomarkers and endpoints for detection of thyroid disrupting chemicals in fish and amphibians. He will coordinate collaboration between work in Japan on transgenic strains of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) and Xenopus laevis for detection of thyroid disruption and work performed by ERGO partners. As a member of several OECD expert groups including VMG-Eco and OECD Fish Drafting Group, Taisen will ensure communication between Japan endocrine disruption entities, OECD and ERGO.