Seigo Shima started his career as a scientist at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (Japan) in 1985. He received his Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Tokyo. In 1993, he received a fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to study at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany. In 1995, he was appointed as a Group Leader at the Department of Biochemistry of Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg. He is currently a department-independent Research Group Reader at Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg. His current research focuses on the catalytic mechanisms of the enzymes involved in methanogenesis.