LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Seimiya Lab (Department of Molecular Targeted Cancer Therapeutics; Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research)
Machine-translated · View original
The lab searches for ways to cure cancer with drugs, focusing on telomeres and cancer stem cells.
AboutAbout the lab
Curing cancer with drugs
The Seimiya Lab studies, at the molecular level, the weaknesses found only in cancer cells, and researches new anticancer drugs that target them.
The research takes place in the Division of Molecular Biotherapy at the Cancer Chemotherapy Center of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research.
The lab focuses on telomeres, which are involved in the unlimited proliferation of cancer cells, and on cancer stem cells, which are a cause of drug resistance.
The lab pursues both basic research that clarifies how cancer arises and applied research that searches for compounds that inhibit the function of targets and tests how well they work.
Key terms
- Telomere
- The region at both ends of a chromosome. It becomes a little shorter each time a cell divides, and serves as a gauge of how many more times the cell can divide.
- G-quadruplex
- A special structure in which four guanine bases of DNA or RNA are arranged and stacked together. It is a three-dimensional structure different from the double helix.
- Cancer stem cell
- A cancer cell with an especially strong ability to form tumors. It is resistant to drugs and is thought to cause recurrence.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab's goal is to understand, at the molecular level, the Achilles' heel unique to cancer cells and to develop cancer therapies that target it. Using telomeres and their related molecules, as well as cancer stem cells, as starting points, the lab carries out both basic and applied research.
*Illustrative imageTelomeres and the immortality of cancer cells
Cancer cells maintain their telomeres with an enzyme called telomerase and divide without limit. The lab studies how telomeres are regulated and how telomere length affects the characteristics of cancer.
*Illustrative imageAnticancer drugs targeting G-quadruplexes
The lab investigates how compounds that stabilize G-quadruplexes (G4 ligands) affect cancer cells, with the aim of putting them to practical use as new anticancer drugs.
*Illustrative imageThe function of tankyrase and its inhibitors
The lab studies tankyrase, an enzyme involved in telomere elongation and in Wnt signaling, which promotes cancer growth. It is developing tankyrase inhibitors and searching for biomarkers that identify the cancers in which they are effective.
*Illustrative imageTherapy resistance of cancer stem cells
The lab examines the properties of cancer stem cells in glioblastoma, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, and colorectal cancer. In collaboration with the Cancer Institute Hospital of JFCR, it uses patient-derived specimens and methods such as single-cell analysis to search for targets for attacking cancer stem cells.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Seimiya Lab are faculty, researchers, research assistants, and graduate students.As of 2024
- Visiting ProfessorHiroyuki Seimiya
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 stopThe 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: “Fluorescence microscopy of the oral cancer cells” Korinna / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Telomeres and the immortality of cancer cells: “Telomere caps” U.S. Department of Energy Human Genome Program / Public domain (cropped)
- Anticancer drugs targeting G-quadruplexes: “Parallel telomere quadruple” Thomas Splettstoesser (www.scistyle.com) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- The function of tankyrase and its inhibitors: “Colon adenocarcinoma - biopsy, intermed. mag.1” CoRus13 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Therapy resistance of cancer stem cells: “Histopathology of glioblastoma, high magnification” Mikael Häggström, M.D. / CC0 (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.