Maiko Kitaoka finds elegance in unexpected places
Whether investigating the early-stage development of Drosophila melanogaster or the mystery of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Maiko Kitaoka wants to know: how and why? A biology major in her senior year at MIT, Kitaoka is fascinated by developmental biology. After doing stem cell research in Australia, she spent the last two years working in the lab of Department of Biology Professor Terry Orr-Weaver. Kitaoka is also a keen reader — lately, she’s found that her 15-minute walks to the lab are a great time to turn a few pages. She loves classics such as “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jane Eyre,” and the Sherlock Holmes novels: “They tell a story, but they also tell you something about human nature, and how people perceive things, or why things happen,” she says. Born in Japan, Kitaoka moved to the U.S. when she was four. She grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where her parents finished their graduate...