Masahiro Funahashi studied organic synthetic chemistry at The University of Tokyo from 1991 to 1994, and he joined Imaging science and Engineering Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology as a research associate. He received Ph.D. with the study on liquid crystalline semiconductors at Tokyo Institute of Technology. After working as a researcher at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, he joined Prof. Kato's group in 2007. Presently he is an associate professor at The University of Tokyo. His research focuses on electronic functionalities of self-assembled soft materials including liquid crystalline semiconductors, conjugated polymers, electronic devices based on organic semiconductors as well as ion conductive liquid crystals.