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Developmental Physiology Lab
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The lab decodes cell shape and fate from mechanical force stimuli.
AboutAbout the lab
The role of mechanical force stimuli in shape formation
The Developmental Physiology Lab studies the mechanisms of pattern formation, by which cells and tissues acquire specific shapes and functions.
It focuses on the role that mechanical stimuli from force, long a mystery, play in this process.
Using the transparent nematode C. elegans, about 1 mm long, and cultured mammalian cells, the lab observes living cells as they proliferate and form tissue.
By combining cutting-edge microscopy with its own original optical technology, the lab is opening up a new research field that merges life science and physics.
Key terms
- Cell polarity
- The uneven distribution of molecules within a cell, which gives the cell a direction, such as front and back
- Pattern formation
- The process in which cells and molecules take on defined arrangements and the shapes of tissues and organs take form
- The nematode C. elegans
- A transparent nematode about 1 mm long. The number of its cells and the order of their divisions are fixed, so it is widely used in developmental research
NewsLab news
A paper by Project Assistant Professor Yamamoto and colleagues was published in Developmental Cell
A paper by Professor Motegi and colleagues was published in Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
Lecturer Kimura received a Poster Award at an area meeting of the Transformative Research Areas program
A paper by Lecturer Kimura and colleagues was published in Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology
ResearchResearch themes
The lab focuses on pattern formation, the process by which cells, tissues, and organs acquire specific shapes and functions, and studies the role that mechanical stimuli from force play in it. Using the nematode C. elegans and cultured mammalian cells, it observes living cells with state-of-the-art microscopes and manipulates the action of force with its own original optical technology.
*Illustrative imageSymmetry breaking
The lab searches for the trigger that switches a fertilized egg from symmetric to asymmetric. It has shown that asymmetry begins when Aurora-A kinase on the centrosome brought in by the sperm locally inhibits the actin cytoskeleton near the cell membrane.
*Illustrative imageAsymmetric patterning
The lab investigates how PAR proteins form mutually exclusive asymmetric patterns on the cell membrane. It has shown that tension on the cell membrane and actomyosin flow gather PAR-3 on one side, and that PAR proteins push each other off the cell membrane.
*Illustrative imageSomatic cell or germ cell
When a fertilized egg divides, cell fate determinants are distributed asymmetrically to the two daughter cells, giving rise to distinct fates: somatic cell and germ cell. The lab is pursuing the mechanism of this either-or choice.
*Illustrative imageTissue homeostasis
Using both nematodes and cultured mammalian cells, the lab examines the polarization of a wide range of cells, from fertilized eggs to epithelial cells. Through the course of organismal development, it looks for the connection between cell polarity and tissue homeostasis and aging.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Developmental Physiology Lab consist of faculty, technical staff, administrative staff, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorFumio Motegi
- LecturerYukako Nishimura
- LecturerKenji Kimura
- Project Assistant ProfessorKazunori Yamamoto
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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: “Varbuss” Heiti Paves / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Symmetry breaking: “Mitotic LLC-PK1 cells, fluorescence microscopy ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Asymmetric patterning: “Depth Coded Phalloidin Stained Actin Filaments Cancer Cell” Howard Vindin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Somatic cell or germ cell: “C. elegans embryo development” Bob Goldstein / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Tissue homeostasis: “Adult Caenorhabditis elegans” The original uploader was Kbradnam at English Wikipedia. (Original text: Zeynep F. Altun, Editor of www.wormatlas.org) / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Physical Chemistry Lab): “Nanoscale Plasmonic Resonator Structures ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Quantum Chemistry Lab): “Benzene IBO” Alicesu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Theoretical Chemistry Lab): “Potential Energy Surface for Water” AimNature / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Structural Chemistry Lab): “Human Oxy-Hemoglobin Protein” PDB code 2DN1 1.25 a resolution crystal structures of human haemoglobin in the oxy, deoxy and carbonmonoxy forms. Park, S.-Y., Yokoyama, T., Shibayama, N., Shiro, Y., Tame, J.R. (2006) J Mol Biol 360: 690-701 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb. Image created using JSmol (Javascript) / CC0 (cropped)
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