Yoichi Shinkai is the Chief Scientist at the Cellular Memory Laboratory at RIKEN and an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Juntendo University in 1990 and completed research fellowships at Columbia University and Harvard Medical School. In 1998, he joined Kyoto University as a faculty member. 

Shinkai’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic gene regulation and the role of epigenetics in health and disease. Using a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, structural biology, and mouse molecular genetics, his lab investigates current topics such as the regulation of transposable elements that are reactivated by various environmental stimuli, and the molecular mechanisms underlying heterochromatin formation and maintenance. These studies aim to enhance human health and quality of life. 

He has published extensively in prestigious journals, including Nature, Nucleic Acids Research, and Genes & Development. Shinkai is a member of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan and the Japanese Biochemical Society, and he currently serves as the core member of the Japanese Society for Epigenetics.