Masako Kato received her Ph.D. from Nagoya University in 1986. After she worked at Institute for Molecular Science and Kyoto University, she joined the Department of Chemistry at Nara Women's University as an assistant professor in 1989 and was promoted to an associate professor in 1996. During 1998-2001, she was also engaged in a PRESTO research. From 2006 to 2021, she had been a professor at Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University. In 2017, she started a KAKENHI project for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, "Soft Crystals". Since April 2021, she is a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University.

Kazuyuki Ishii received his Ph.D. from Tohoku University in 1996 and subsequently worked as a research associate at Tohoku University from 1996 to 2006. He joined Institute of Industrial Science of The University of Tokyo as an associate professor in 1996 and has been a full professor of The University of Tokyo since 2012. In 2019, he was a deputy director of Institute of Industrial Science. From 2017, he is a secretary of a KAKENHI project for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Soft Crystals.