Iowa Soybean Research Center

in collaboration with the Iowa Soybean Association

ISRC Hosts Visit with Researcher from Japan’s NARO

October 15, 2025
Sitting at a desk, looking at a computer are NARO researcher Shin Kato discusses soybean research with ISRC Co-director and Professor of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology Steve Whitham
NARO researcher Shin Kato, left, and ISRC Co-director and Professor of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology Steve Whitham discuss soybean research. Photo by Jill Cornelis, ISRC

Dr. Shin Kato, a researcher with Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, visited Iowa State on October 8, 2025, to learn more about soybean research at ISU. The ISRC helped coordinate the visit with several of its faculty research affiliates.

Associate Dean of Research and Discovery for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Danny Singh, agronomy, provided a tour of soybean breeding plots at the ISU Ag Engineering and Agronomy Farm west of Ames. Upon returning to campus, he met with agronomy researcher Madan Bhattacharyya to discuss soybean genetics and breeding and Kan Wang and Sehiza Grosic with the Crop Bioengineering Lab. 

Additionally, Kato met with Gary Munkvold, Larry Halverson and Steve Whitham, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, to discuss microbe and pathogen interactions in soybean. Followed by a tour of the Seed Science Center.

ISU researcher Alan Gaul gives Kato a tour of the Seed Science Center.
ISU researcher Alan Gaul gives Kato a tour of the Seed Science Center. Photo by Jill Cornelis, ISRC