Prof. Koichi Makimura is a Professor and Vice Director at the Institute of Medical Mycology, Teikyo University, Japan. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Tokyo Medical University in 1990 and his Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from Teikyo University in 1994. With over three decades of experience, he has made significant contributions to medical mycology, particularly in fungal phylogenetics and molecular diagnostics of fungal infections. As the first Principal Investigator for Space Microbiology in the Japanese ISS module “KIBO” in 2008, he has extended mycological research into space, investigating fungal behavior in microgravity environments. Recently, he has expanded his research into archaeo-medical science, conducting genetic and biomarker analyses at Silk Road excavation sites in Kyrgyzstan.