Dr. Hiroshi Nakagawa is a Principal Researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, and his PhD from NAIST in protein dynamics by neutron scattering. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency before joining the research staff. He has specialized in protein science and quantum beam science, mainly studying protein conformational dynamics by neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations, and the structure and dynamics of protein hydration water. Although his research has been primarily in the fields of biophysics and structural biology, his current interest is in applying the knowledge and techniques of these research fields to food science. He is particularly interested in the physical properties of water in food materials such as proteins and starches. He joined the Ubbink lab in the spring of 2023 to study the correlation between structure, properties, and functionality of plant-based meat analogues. He is interested in viscoelastic properties and phase behavior of plant proteins, and also in the relationship between macroscopic properties and microscopic molecular motion and structure with respect to glass transition and relaxation phenomena. Outside of research, he has two sons and a daughter and enjoys spending time with his family.
