Pathway to Independence – an interview with Toshimichi Yamada

Toshi Yamada earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he studied regulatory mechanisms controlling RNA dynamics and stability. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Wendell Lim's lab at University of California, San Francisco, working on uncovering the design principles of mammalian embryogenesis and reconstituting developmental processes in vitro. Toshi has been selected as one of our 2025 Pathway to Independence fellows, a group of researchers who will be supported by Development's Pathway to Independence programme as they aim to secure independent positions. We spoke to Toshi to learn more about why he decided to apply to the programme, and what research directions he hopes to pursue with his own lab.