At the Zoological Society Council meeting held on Saturday, June 2 at the Hokkaido University Tokyo Office, deliberations were held regarding two candidates recommended by the OM Award Selection Committee. As a result, the Zoological Society of Japan Council decided to award the FY2018 Zoological Society of Japan OM Award for Encouragement of Female Researchers to the following two individuals.

Miyakawa (Okamoto) Misato
Utsunomiya University Bioscience Education and Research Center, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow (PD)
Elucidation of the molecular genetic basis of sex determination mechanisms evolved in ants

Izumi Oda (Ishii)
Program-Specific Researcher, Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University
Regulation of transcription factor Zic through two types of binding sequences in ascidian embryogenesis

Selection process: There were 8 applicants by the deadline of March 31, 2018. At a web conference on April 9, after receiving an explanation of the characteristics and historical background of the OM Award from the former chairperson of the OM Award Selection Committee, evaluations were conducted based on the screening materials and attached papers (up to 2 papers). First, each committee member evaluated the applicants using a common evaluation form. Based on these evaluations, the OM Award Selection Committee was held in Tokyo on May 12 for deliberation. In addition, two observers (Takei Yoshiro, Board Member in charge of the Award, and Shingyoji Chikako, former Chairperson of the OM Award Committee) attended the selection committee meeting. Deliberations were based on the purpose of the award, focusing on two points: 1) whether they are promoting excellent research in animal science, and 2) whether they continue their research with strong will and high aspirations despite the difficulty of continuing research in a stable position. As a result of the deliberation, it was unanimously decided that Dr. Misato Miyagawa (Okamoto) and Dr. Izumi Oda (Ishii) are suitable for the FY2018 Zoological Society of Japan OM Award for Encouragement of Female Researchers.

Reason for selection:
Misato Miyagawa (Okamoto) — Misato Miyagawa (Okamoto) is interested in the diverse forms of sexual reproduction in living organisms and has conducted research to elucidate why invasive ant species have been able to thrive despite possessing a sex-determination mechanism that is ill-suited for invasion. Many Hymenoptera insects, including ants, exhibit a sex-determination system known as haplodiploidy.This system has the drawback that inbreeding results in half of the next generation being infertile males, a trait considered disadvantageous during the early stages of invasion when genetic diversity is low. Against this backdrop, Ms. Miyagawa (Okamoto) first analyzed the sex-determination loci of the Ume-matsu ant.As a result, she succeeded—for the first time in ants—in identifying the genomic region containing the sex-determination loci using linkage analysis, demonstrating that this species possesses two sex-determination loci and that this arrangement suppresses the proportion of infertile males resulting from inbreeding to 25% of the total population.In other words, the findings suggest that the presence of multiple sex-determination loci compensates for the disadvantages of inbreeding. Furthermore, among the loci involved in sex determination is a gene known as an early sex-determination gene in honeybees.cdc, femalediscovered that homologs of are encoded. These genes anddsxWe are proceeding with expression analysis to clarify the molecular basis of sex determination in males and females. Previously, Dr. Miyagawa (Okamoto) experienced childbirth during her tenure as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow (PD). Even during maternity leave, she gradually returned to research two months postpartum, continuing her work by handling childcare during the day and taking turns with her spouse to conduct experiments in the lab at night. Furthermore, her research from pregnancy through her return has already been compiled into a paper and published. Thus, she was highly evaluated for her passion, motivation, and sense of responsibility toward research despite facing difficulties, as well as her strong determination and efforts to continue her research. Izumi Oda (Ishii) Izumi Oda (Ishii) has advanced her research by focusing on how embryonic development transitions from regulation by the maternal genome to regulation by the embryonic genome in animal embryos. To date, she has built a strong track record by clarifying that four maternal factors, including Zic factors, initiate the expression of embryonic genes through mutual interactions, as well as elucidating the functions of these maternal factors and their target genes. Zic factors encode proteins with evolutionarily conserved zinc fingers and are widely known to be involved in neurogenesis and early development. Against the background of her past research achievements, Dr. Oda (Ishii) became interested in the fact that transcription factor binding motifs consist of two types: primary motifs and secondary motifs, and she intends to use Zic transcription factors to study the functions and biological significance of these two motifs. In particular, Zic-r.a, which Dr. Oda (Ishii) focuses on, is of great interest as she points out the possibility that it utilizes two different types of motifs depending on cell type in the transcriptional regulation that occurs during developmental processes. This research is expected to contribute not only to embryology but also to animal science in general. Because her spouse is living away from home for work, Dr. Oda (Ishii) conducts her research while single-handedly raising two young children, and it can be imagined that she faces many difficulties in her research environment. In such circumstances, the fact that she has steadily published papers also demonstrates her strong determination to continue her research. As described above, her research attitude of persisting in her research without yielding to difficulties was highly evaluated.