Mariko Morimoto, Huisking Foundation, Inc., Assistant Professor is the Recognition Prize Winner for the Marie Sklodowska Curie Award, given by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
To promote the activities of early-career Japanese female researchers in science, technology, and innovation, JST established the Marie Sklodowska Curie Award in conjunction with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in 2021. Winners are selected from across the globe with the goal of supporting promising researchers in advancing and promoting their work.
Professor Morimoto’s research focuses on chemical immunology, using chemical approaches to identify and reprogram immune-regulating processes for the treatment of cancer. One primary focus is on glycans, or sugars, that coat the surface of all cells in the body and facilitate various immune responses using glycan binding proteins called lectins. Her group works to develop new experimental and computational approaches to characterize these interactions so they can be targeted for therapeutic intervention. Her second focus is the synthesis of small molecules that can direct protein-protein interactions in immune cells and restore healthy functioning. These molecules not only hold promise as immunotherapies but also serve as tools to investigate and further understand fundamental immunological processes.
Professor Morimoto joined the University of Notre Dame in 2025 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. in 2021 from the University of California Berkeley and her B.Sc. in 2016 from Emory University.