Her research focuses on DNA damage response, stem cells and induced neural cells.Dr. Kai’s lab focuses on the use of molecular and cellular biology and genetics to understand the mechanisms of DNA damage response pathways of cancer stem cells. The laboratory also developed methods to create human-induced neurons from adult somatic cells.She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tokyo. She earned a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Kai was an instructor and a basic life science senior research scientist in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University. Dr. Kai joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2008.