Shinji Hagiwara currently holds a position as a part-time Lecturer at the Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, he serves as a Director at the Hagiwara Clinic, Higashikurume City, Tokyo, Japan. His research interests are non-coding RNA, microRNA, AGEs, Renal Fibrosis, CKD, and Diabetic Kidney Disease. He has authored 36 publications with 1246 citations and an h-index of 19 (Scopus, 27 November 2023) in these areas.

Dr. Tomohito Gohda is an Associate Professor at the Department of Nephrology, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine. He received his M.D. from Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, in 1994 and his Ph.D. from the Division of Nephrology, Juntendo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, in 2002. He became a member of The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine in 1994, The Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy in 2001, and The Japanese Society of Hypertension in 2006. His research interests include Internal Medicine (General Medicine), Diabetology, and Nephrology.

Phillip Kantharidis received his BSc degree in Gene Coding Assignments of the Rotavirus and his Ph.D. degree in the Molecular Biology of Rotaviruses from the University of Melbourne. He is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Diabetes. His main research focus is the identification of novel treatments to protect diabetic patients from micro- and macrovascular complications. He is a molecular biologist who has worked for 10 years in the field of diabetic nephropathy, publishing findings that have advanced our understanding of the important role of microRNAs in diabetic complications.

Jun Okabe is an expert in gene delivery systems and chromosome research working in the fields of epigenetics (with Prof. El-Osta, Monash), telomeres (with Prof. Andy Choo, MCRI), and viral/non-viral/hybrid vectors (with Dr. Mahito Nakanishi, AIST, Japan). Recently, he has been involved in investigating the molecular mechanism of “epigenetic memory” in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. His Circulation Research (2012) and Diabetes (2008) papers reporting the role of lysine methyltransferase Set7 in hyperglycemic memory and a further lead publication in Nucleic Acid Research demonstrating Set7-dependent transcriptional networks in embryonic stem cells are highlighted. His qualifications include a Ph.D. and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). Based on his background, he has multiple experimental skills including animal work, stem cell culture, viral gene transfer, next-generation sequencing analysis, biochemistry, and epigenetics. He has supervised over 10 domestic and international students and also has scientific leadership experience, coupled with a critical mind and meticulous lab techniques and organization.

Maki Murakoshi currently holds a position as an Associate Professor at the Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan. Their main research interest is the kidney. Maki Murakoshi has authored 47 publications with 895 citations and 2436 reads (ResearchGate, 27 November 2023).

Yusuke Suzuki currently holds a position as a Professor at the Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan. His academic positions include Director of the Japanese Society of Nephrology (JSN); Councilor of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, the Japanese Society of Dialysis Therapy, the Japanese Society of Hypertension, and the ISN Council; ISN Deputy Chair of the North and East Asia Regional Board; Liaison Officer in the ISN sister renal center program for JSN/Vietnam; Chief Researcher of a Special Research Group on IgA Nephropathy in Progressive Renal Disease Research from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan; and Chief Researcher of a biomarker project on IgA nephropathy for Research on Intractable Disease from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. His research mainly focuses on the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy. So far, his studies have been supported by more than 60 scientific research grants. He has authored more than 130 English-language publications, including in Kidney Int., J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., J. Clin. Investig., JAMA Int. Med., JAMA Netw., and Nat. Med. He is now an Editorial Board member for Kidney Int., Nephrology, and Kidney Diseases.