LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Animal Cell Regulation Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab explores the mechanisms of growth and metabolism through amino acid and hormone signals.
AboutAbout the lab
How dietary nutrients control growth and metabolism
The Animal Cell Regulation Lab studies how animals adapt to environmental changes and sustain life, from the perspective of signal transmission within the body.
The lab focuses on nutrient components such as amino acids, and on hormones such as insulin and IGF.
When the regulation of these actions goes wrong, it can lead to growth abnormalities and diseases such as fatty liver and diabetes.
By clarifying these mechanisms, the lab aims to develop new methods of prevention and treatment, and to create high-quality food resources such as marbled meat.
Key terms
- IGF
- Insulin-like growth factor. A hormone similar in structure to insulin that promotes cell proliferation and differentiation
- Fatty liver
- A condition in which triglycerides accumulate in the liver. It can also be caused by diet
- Insulin receptor substrate (IRS)
- A protein that relays the signal of insulin or IGF into the cell once the hormone reaches it
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Outstanding Poster Award at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Amino Acid Sciences
A paper showing that ornithine suppresses fatty liver caused by a low-arginine diet was accepted in Sci. Rep.
A paper from a collaboration with Kyoto Prefectural University was accepted in PNAS
A student received the Dean's Award of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences
A paper by a lab graduate was published in Neurochem. Int.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates how nutrients in the diet, especially the balance of amino acids, affect the body's metabolism, in both cells and whole animals. It also studies how hormone signals such as insulin and IGF are regulated, and in recent years it has expanded this work to studies using human specimens.
*Illustrative imageDietary Amino Acids, Growth, and Metabolism
The lab feeds growing rats diets in which only specific amino acids are reduced, and investigates how fatty liver, fat accumulation in muscle, and growth retardation develop.
*Illustrative imageAmino Acid Signals That Regulate Metabolism
The lab studies how liver cells change their lipid metabolism in response to changes in the surrounding amino acid composition, and seeks to identify the nature of the signals involved. It is also focusing on a new signal conveyed by ornithine.
*Illustrative imageIGF Signaling and Cell Fate
Using experiments and mathematical models, the lab investigates how muscle precursor cells come to either proliferate or differentiate, depending on whether IGF-I signaling inside the cell oscillates or remains steady.
*Illustrative imageNew Functions of Insulin Receptor Substrates
The lab searches for proteins that bind to IRS, a protein that relays signals, and investigates new functions that IRS performs apart from regulating signals, such as promoting the secretion of hormones and other substances.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Animal Cell Regulation Lab consist of faculty, researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, research students, and collaborators.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorFumihiko HakunoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorSuguru FujitaPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Animal Cell Regulation Lab
Food Biochemistry LabFaculty of Agriculture, Major in Biological Chemistry and BiotechnologyBasic molecular and cell biological research on lifestyle-re…
Food Biostructure LabFaculty of Agriculture, Major in Biological Chemistry and BiotechnologyVisualizing the shapes and movements of biomolecules to gain…
Bioregulation Science LabFaculty of Agriculture, Major in Biological Chemistry and BiotechnologyChemical and biological studies of trace bioactive substance…
Plant Functional Engineering LabFaculty of Agriculture, Major in Biological Chemistry and BiotechnologyElucidation of the regulatory mechanisms of photosynthesis a…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Wistar rat” Janet Stephens / Public domain (cropped)
- Dietary Amino Acids, Growth, and Metabolism: “Liver steatosis fatty change” Laboratory of Experimental Pathology, Division of Intramural Research, NIEHS (NIH) / Public domain (cropped)
- Amino Acid Signals That Regulate Metabolism: “Hepatocyte Culture” Lauren Franza / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- IGF Signaling and Cell Fate: “C2C12 cells x10 mag” Davidxyz / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- New Functions of Insulin Receptor Substrates: “PDB 1qqg EBI” Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Biochemistry Lab): “Bodipy-wiki-Rkott-2023” Rkott / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Biostructure Lab): “CSIRO ScienceImage 296 Protein Crystals Use in XRay Crystallography” division, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Bioregulation Science Lab): “3-day-old buckwheat sprouts” V.Boldychev / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Functional Engineering Lab): “Arabidopsis thaliana sl13” Stefan.lefnaer / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.