KDRI was founded in October 1991 as a research institute supported by the local government of Chiba Prefecture. It is located in the "Kazusa Academia Park" at the eastern edge of Kisarazu City surrounded by green environment rich in various wild lives. We have been analyzing the genetic information of the ‘master plan of life’ that is encoded in plant and human DNAs. Based on the results obtained, scientific research has been carried out on various genes functioning in the cell. We have been making use of the facility for large-scale genome analysis, one of the best of its kind in Japan. Recently, we have uncovered the genomic structure of a legume plant and its symbiotic nodule bacteria as well as many long human cDNAs.

There are four departments in KDRI, namely, Department of Plant Genome Research, Department of Human Genome Research, Department of Biotechnology Research, and Department of Planning and Administration as depicted in the organization table.

Currently, we also pursue industrial application of the results of our research activities, such as developing methods for the improvement of useful crops and for the efficient control of material synthesis as well as for the designing of drugs and medicines and for the development of effective treatments of various diseases. More recently, we provide the public with open lectures on DNA to inform citizens of Chiba Prefecture about our research activities and to explain what DNA is and how it is related to our daily life etc. (please see individual pages for detail).