Atsuko Sato received D.Phil. from Department of Zoology and Merton college, University of Oxford in 2008. After her D.Phil., she started to work on impact of thermal stress on animal development using tunicates as a model. She worked at Marine Biological Association of the UK, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, University of Tokyo and University of Oxford for various post-doctoral fellowships before taking up her position at Ochanomizu University. She teaches Molecular Genetics focusing on genotype-to-phenotype map.
Her major interest is impact of thermal stress on animal development to understand morphological evolution of chordates, in the light of Conrad Hal Waddington’s idea of canalization and genetic assimilation. Her work won various honours and prizes, including The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (The Young Scientists’ Prize) in 2017. Her work has been supported by a long-term collaboration with Marine Biological Association of the UK, Plymouth. She was also an Oliver Smithies Lecturer at Balliol College, University of Oxford (2024).