Jun Kunisawa

Prof. Jun Kunisawa is Deputy Director General of the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBN), Japan, and Director of the Microbial Research Center for Health and Medicine, one of NIBN’s core centers. He also holds adjunct or visiting professorships at the University of Tokyo, University of Osaka, Kobe University, and Waseda University. He received his Ph.D. from University of Osaka in 2001 and completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2004, he joined the University of Tokyo as Assistant and later Associate Professor before moving to NIBN in 2013 to establish a new laboratory. He was promoted to Director in 2019 and Deputy Director General in 2024. His research focuses on the relationships between the gut environment—including diets, commensal bacteria, and their metabolites—and human health. His recent work advances translational applications in precision nutrition, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for promoting healthier societies.