Yamashita is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, at the Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He belongs to the Networked Biophotonics and Microfluidics Laboratory (Ota Laboratory) . Yamashita develops new technologies that can extract more information from individual human cells to help in medicine and drug development. He has also been involved in a wide range of other biological research, including ecology, paleontology, and neuroscience. At the same time, Yamashita has a strong interest in art and continues to create and exhibit his work.