¡¡Prof. Satoshi Omura, inaugural Director of the Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Kitasato University, has discovered over 400 novel bioactive compounds from microorganisms, devising innovative methods of isolation and cultivation in the process. Many have been developed as highly-effective drugs, human and veterinary medicines, as pesticides and agrochemicals, or used as important reagents in biochemical research to help elucidate various biological phenomena.