Naoko obtained her Bachelors degree in Biology in 2011 and Masters degree in 2013 at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. In 2013, she began her PhD research in Dr. Teiichi Tanimura’s lab, where she is working on the mechanisms of amino acid-driven feeding behaviour and its interaction with nutritional status in Drosophila. She will join the Benton lab as a visiting student in early 2015.