Hisato Kondoh received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from Kyoto University and conducted his postdoctoral study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. He initially received training in gene regulation and signal transduction in bacteria. However, it was his turning point when he was appointed to an assistant professor at Kyoto University in 1979, and started the investigation of crystallin gene regulation in lens development. In 1988, he became a full professor at the Department of Molecular Biology in Nagoya University School of Sciences and widened his scope to transcription factors (TFs) regulating developmental processes. In 1993, he moved to the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Osaka University (serving as Director from 1998 to 2002), and in 2003 joined the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University (serving as Dean from 2006 to 2008). In 2014, he moved to Kyoto Sangyo University and served as a Professor at the Faculty of Life Sciences, andin 2021 to Biohistory Research Hall and served as the Director of Biology, continuing his research since 1995 when he first reported the TF SOX2 as the principal regulator of lens development, SOX2 function and its regulation in early embryogenesis have been the focus of his study. His current interest is the gene regulatory networks underlying the different pluripotent states and the derivation of various somatic lineages. For several years, he has attempted to combine the information on gene regulatory networks with cell changes, cell movements, and cell-cell interactions in the corresponding stages of embryos, as revealed by live imaging. Through these studies, he realized that old models in developmental biology need extensive revision, which is also essential for the advancement of stem cell biology.