Keiko Torii

Torii received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degree from the University of Tsukuba. She became a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology (formerly Botany), University of Washington in 1999, then became Associate Professor in 2005, Full Professor in 2009, and received the title of College of Arts and Sciences Endowed Distinguished Professor of Biology in 2011. Since 2011, Torii is an investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Currently, she is Johnson & Johnson Centennial Chair in Plant Cell Biology at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin. Since 2013-2022, Torii ran her second lab at the Institute of Transformative Biomolecules (WPI-ITbM) at Nagoya University, Japan as an Oversea Principal Investigator. 

Our group (Torii Lab) studies how positional cues govern tissue patterning and how stem cells are established, committed to specific fates, and differentiated into specialized cell types. To address such fundamental questions in developmental biology, we use plant stomatal development as a model. Stomata are small cellular valves that facilitate gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere while minimizing water loss. The presence of stomata is essential for plant survival and our global environment. Our work has elucidated: 1) intricate cell-cell communications mediated by peptide hormones and receptor kinases influence the pattern of stem cell divisions and fate specification; 2) master regulatory bHLH transcription factors govern cell through interplay with cell-cycle and chromatin (epigenetic) regulators; and 3) how these core networks of stomatal patterning and differentiation are re-wired to enable plants to adapt to underwater (aquatic) environments. We use a model plant Arabidopsis as well as the amphibious Brassicaceae species, Rorippa. 

Additionally, in collaboration with organic chemists, chemical biologists, and structural biologists, we are developing small molecules and orthogonal ligand-receptor systems with novel activities to understand and manipulate signaling pathways and cross-talks between stomatal development and immunity.