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Cellular Senescence Biology Lab (Takahashi Lab)
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The lab seeks to uncover the mechanisms of cellular senescence in order to control cancer and aging.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding aging and disease through the mechanisms of cellular senescence
The Cellular Senescence Biology Lab studies, at the molecular level, how cells undergo senescence.
Cellular senescence is triggered by various stresses that can lead to cancer, and is thought to be closely involved in age-related diseases such as cancer as well as in the aging of the body.
The lab aims to clarify the molecular mechanisms of cellular senescence and to control cancer and aging.
The lab was launched in July 2025 at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo.
Key terms
- Cellular senescence
- A state in which stressed cells stop proliferating while remaining alive
- SASP
- The property of senescent cells to secrete inflammatory proteins and other factors into their surroundings
- Extracellular vesicles
- Small sacs that cells release outward, carrying proteins and RNA to convey information to other cells
- Senolytic drugs
- Drugs that selectively kill senescent cells in the body
NewsLab news
A paper by the Lecturer was published in Cell Reports
A paper by the Lecturer was published in Nature Communications
The Lecturer received the Young Investigator Award at the Japan-China-Korea A3 Foresight Meeting
A paper by a doctoral student was published in Cell Reports
The Cellular Senescence Biology Lab was launched at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
ResearchResearch themes
Cellular senescence is triggered by various stresses and causes cells to stop proliferating irreversibly. The lab investigates how senescent cells accumulate in the body and contribute to disease, with the aim of understanding the biological phenomenon of "aging and age-related diseases."
*Illustrative imageSASP and extracellular vesicles
Senescent cells accumulate in the body with age and exhibit the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), secreting inflammatory proteins into their surroundings, which contributes to various age-related diseases. The lab studies how SASP factors and extracellular vesicles are produced and what they do in the body, aiming to clarify how aging and disease arise.
*Illustrative imageMetabolic abnormalities in senescent cells
Senescent cells show metabolic abnormalities that differ from those of normal cells. Focusing on the mechanism by which iron-dependent cell death (ferroptosis) rarely occurs in senescent cells even though iron accumulates in them, the lab works to apply its findings to the development of cancer prevention and treatment methods.
*Illustrative imageNon-coding RNAs and epigenomic abnormalities
In senescent cells, parts of the chromosomes open up, large amounts of non-coding RNA are produced from those regions, and genes involved in inflammation become active. The lab investigates how such epigenomic abnormalities arise in senescent cells and cancer cells.
*Illustrative imageMedicine targeting senescent cells
The development of senolytic drugs, which selectively eliminate senescent cells, is advancing worldwide. To avoid affecting normal cells, the lab studies the mechanisms of resistance to cell death unique to senescent cells, as well as technologies for detecting senescent cells in the body.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty, doctoral students, undergraduate students, research students, research assistants, and a secretary.As of 2026
- ProfessorAkiko Takahashi
- LecturerFujisawa TakaoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorXiangyu Zhou
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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: “SABG MEFs” Y tambe / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- SASP and extracellular vesicles: “Exosome kalamedits” Kalamedits / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Metabolic abnormalities in senescent cells: “MEF cell mitochondria 2” Institute of Molecular Medicine I, University of Düsseldorf / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Non-coding RNAs and epigenomic abnormalities: “RNA secondary structure mascRNA” Ppgardne / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Medicine targeting senescent cells: “Quercetin-3D-spacefill” Jynto (talk) / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Protein Metabolism Lab): “Proteasome (NIH BioArt )” Courtesy of NIAID Ryan Kissinger / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Physiological Chemistry Lab): “Mitotic LLC-PK1 cells, fluorescence microscopy ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Biology Lab): “Neural Stem Cells” Welcome Collection / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kawaguchi Lab): “Normalized Linkage Heat Map” CP2000A / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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