Masaki Shintani is a Professor at Shizuoka University, Japan, specializing in plasmid biology, microbial ecology, and environmental microbiology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 2006 and has served as a guest scientist at BRC-JCM, RIKEN (since 2012) and at the University of Vienna (2016–2018). His research focuses on the behavior of mobile genetic elements, particularly degradative plasmids, in diverse environments, as well as on building comprehensive plasmid databases. He has led multiple national and international collaborative projects and is currently developing a Japan-originated plasmid database integrating historical knowledge with modern genomics. He received the 3rd Brian Wilkins Memorial Fund Prize at ISPB2008 for his work on degradative plasmids.