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Nishiyama Lab (Cell Memory Medical Science)
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The lab investigates the mechanisms of "cell memory," through which cells maintain their own state and pass it on to daughter cells after division.
AboutAbout the lab
One step beyond the textbook.
Nishiyama Lab studies at the molecular level the mechanisms of "cell memory," in which cells maintain their own state and pass it on even after they divide.
The cells of the body carry nearly identical DNA, yet neurons remain neurons and hepatocytes remain hepatocytes, each keeping its own characteristics.
What determines those characteristics is epigenomic information written on DNA and histones.
In particular, the lab focuses on how DNA methylation is inherited as DNA is replicated.
Key terms
- Epigenome
- Information carried by chemical marks attached to DNA and histones, separate from the DNA sequence. It works like sticky notes that determine which genes are used.
- DNA methylation
- The attachment of a methyl group, a small chemical mark, to cytosine, one of the bases of DNA. It is involved in controlling how genes are used.
- Histone
- A protein in the cell nucleus around which DNA is wound. Chemical modifications attached to histones also serve as epigenomic information.
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
At the intersection of DNA replication and epigenome inheritance, the lab studies how cells remember their own state and pass it on to the next generation of cells. It combines reconstitution biochemistry, structural biology, and cell biology, and works together with many collaborators.
*Illustrative imageExploring maintenance methylation with frog egg extracts
Using Xenopus egg extracts, which can reproduce events inside the cell in a test tube, the lab investigates how DNA methylation is inherited during DNA replication.
*Illustrative imageControl of DNA methylation by ubiquitin marks
The lab studies how the protein UHRF1 attaches ubiquitin, a molecular tag, to chromatin proteins, and how this tag acts as a signal that controls the maintenance of DNA methylation.
*Illustrative imageErasure in early development, and DNA methylation in plants
In addition to the control of DNA methylation maintenance, the lab analyzes how DNA methylation is erased across the entire genome in early development, and how DNA methylation is maintained in plants, which differs greatly from animals.
MembersFaculty
The members of Nishiyama Lab include faculty, doctoral students, and academic specialist staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorAtsuya Nishiyama
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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: “Mitotic LLC-PK1 cells, fluorescence microscopy ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Exploring maintenance methylation with frog egg extracts: “Xenopus laevis pair” TimVickers / Public domain (cropped)
- Control of DNA methylation by ubiquitin marks: “Nucleosome 1KX5 2” By Richard Wheeler (Zephyris) 2005. / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Erasure in early development, and DNA methylation in plants: “Arabidopsis thal on white” Reo On / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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