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Mizushima Lab
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The lab studies autophagy, the process by which cells break down parts of themselves and remake them.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how cells eat themselves
The Mizushima Lab studies intracellular degradation mechanisms, with a focus on autophagy.
Autophagy is the process by which cytoplasmic proteins and organelles are delivered to lysosomes and degraded.
The components of the body are constantly degraded and rebuilt. The lab investigates, at the molecular level, the machinery responsible for this degradation.
The lab uses a wide range of approaches, from biochemistry and microscopy to model organisms such as mice and zebrafish, and even mathematical modeling.
Key terms
- Autophagy
- A mechanism by which cells degrade their own components in bulk and reuse them as raw materials. The word literally means "self-eating."
- Lysosome
- A small sac inside the cell that contains digestive enzymes. Components delivered to it are degraded here.
- Autophagosome
- A sac formed when a membrane surrounds part of the cytoplasm. It fuses with a lysosome, and its contents are degraded.
NewsLab news
Study demonstrates the capacity for recovery of neural function in mice in which autophagy was reversibly suppressed (Science)
Assistant Professor Eguchi wins a poster award at the EMBO Workshop Neuronal Autophagy
A doctoral student wins a poster award at the International Congress of Cell Biology (ICCB)
Prof. Mizushima receives the 2026 FAOBMB Award for Research Excellence
Now recruiting graduate students for the doctoral program in medicine
ResearchResearch themes
To sustain life, the components of the body must be properly synthesized, and they must also be properly degraded. The lab studies the molecular mechanisms and physiological roles of intracellular degradation systems, with a focus on autophagy.
*Illustrative imageHow autophagosomes form
A membrane surrounds part of the cytoplasm to form an autophagosome, which fuses with a lysosome so that its contents are degraded. The lab investigates this process, from formation through maturation to fusion, at the molecular level.
*Illustrative imageThe role of autophagy in the body
Using mice and zebrafish, the lab investigates the roles that autophagy plays in the living body. It has shown that autophagy becomes highly active during starvation immediately after birth and in embryos immediately after fertilization.
*Illustrative imageMeasuring autophagic activity
The lab is developing methods to accurately measure how actively autophagy is working in cells and in whole organisms.
*Illustrative imageAutophagy and disease
When autophagy does not work properly, abnormal proteins accumulate inside cells. The lab investigates how autophagy is involved in the development of disease, including showing that mice in which autophagy cannot be induced in neurons develop neurodegenerative disease.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Mizushima Lab consist of faculty, project researchers, dispatched researchers, academic specialist staff, administrative and technical assistants, doctoral and master's students, medical students, and visiting researchers.As of 2026
- ProfessorNoboru MizushimaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorIkuko Honda
- Assistant ProfessorSaori Yoshii
- Assistant ProfessorTomoya Eguchi
- Assistant ProfessorSidi Zhang
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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: “Multicolor fluorescence image of living HeLa cells” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How autophagosomes form: “Mitochondria in living HeLa cells” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- The role of autophagy in the body: “Zebrafish, Benjamin Lemaire” UCL Culture / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Measuring autophagic activity: “Microscope à fluorescence (Ifremer )” Olivier Dugornay / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Autophagy and disease: “Axons Al Dente” MikeRoscopy / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (細胞構築学教室
（田中グループ） ): “Microtubules in Primary Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts” Howard Vindin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (神経生化学教室
（尾藤晴彦研究室） ): “Hippocampal neurons in culture” Guarnieri Fabrizia / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (生体構造学教室
（吉川雅英研究室） ): “Bronchiolar epithelium 4 - SEM” Louisa Howard / Public domain (cropped) - Related lab (微生物学教室
（竹田誠研究室） ): “Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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