She moved to the United Kingdom for her graduate studies, where she joined the John Innes Centre.

[3] In 1994 she earned her PhD at the University of East Anglia,[4] and she was appointed a postdoctoral researcher in the molecular biology department.

Here she worked on the γ-Butyrolactone molecules that act to regulate antibiotic production and morphological differentiation in Streptomyces.

[5] She was made a Rosalind Franklin Fellow at the University of Groningen in 2006 and promoted to associate professor in 2010.

[11] Takano is developing robotic systems to explore the potential biosynthetic pathways, testing thousands of new compounds every year.