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Biological Function Analysis Lab
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A lab that studies innate immunity, development, and regeneration using Drosophila.
AboutAbout the lab
Aiming to conduct first-class research while enjoying it
The Biological Function Analysis Lab (Kurata Lab) studies innate immunity, immune memory, intestinal homeostasis, development, and regeneration.
Using methods from molecular genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology, the lab investigates at three levels: the whole-organism level using Drosophila, the cellular level using human and other cells, and the level of the molecules at work in them.
By clarifying at the molecular level the mechanisms universally shared by living organisms, the lab approaches the "functions of life."
By "conducting first-class research while enjoying it," the lab aims to create knowledge that leads the world and to train people who can truly excel.
Key terms
- Innate immunity
- A defense mechanism against infection that all organisms have. In mammals, it is also important for activating adaptive immunity.
- Drosophila (fruit fly)
- A type of small fly. This lab uses it for research at the whole-organism level.
- Autophagy
- A mechanism by which cells break down and remove their own components and invading bacteria.
NewsLab news
A student won the Best Question Award at the Young Researchers' Dojo of the biology labs in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
A student won the Best Presentation Award at the English presentation session for fourth-year students
Paper by a doctoral student published in Genes to Cells
A student won the Best Presenter Award at the Young Researchers' Dojo of the biology labs in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
A student won the Best Presentation Award at the research presentation session of the Pharmaceutical English course
ResearchResearch themes
The lab conducts research on innate immunity, immune memory, intestinal homeostasis, development, and regeneration. At each level, from whole organisms using Drosophila to cells such as human cells and the molecules at work in them, the lab seeks to clarify the molecular basis of the mechanisms universally shared by living organisms.
*Illustrative imageInnate immunity that recognizes pathogens
The lab was the first in the world to identify PGRP-LE, a pathogen sensor in Drosophila, and showed that it works in the production of antimicrobial peptides and in the elimination of intracellular parasitic bacteria through autophagy. The lab has also identified Gyc76C, a new innate immune receptor.
*Illustrative imageHow immunity remembers infection
Memory in innate immunity has recently been confirmed in a variety of organisms, but the full mechanism is not yet understood. The lab aims to elucidate it through integrative analysis of the genome, epigenome, and transcriptome.
*Illustrative imageIntestinal homeostasis and autophagy
Using Drosophila, the lab investigates the pathology that defective autophagy causes in the intestinal epithelium. The lab has shown that when autophagy fails, unnecessary repair responses to commensal gut bacteria cannot be suppressed, and intestinal homeostasis breaks down.
*Illustrative imageTransforming one organ into another
By manipulating the cells that become the compound eye in Drosophila, the lab has succeeded in converting the compound eye into a wing, an antenna, and a leg. In this system, the lab identified Winged eye, a gene that converts the compound eye into a wing, and found that it is involved in epigenetic regulation.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Biological Function Analysis Lab (Kurata Lab) are faculty members, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and a secretary.As of 2025
- ProfessorShoichiro Kurata
- Associate ProfessorTamaki Yano
- Assistant ProfessorNaoyuki Fuse
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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: “Standing female Drosophila melanogaster” Hannah Davis / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Innate immunity that recognizes pathogens: “PAMPs and PRRs in the Innate Immune System” Immcarle105 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How immunity remembers infection: “DNA-Sequencers from Flickr 57080968” Flickr user jurvetson / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Intestinal homeostasis and autophagy: “Drosophila (fruit fly) gut ( )” NIH Image Gallery from Bethesda, Maryland, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Transforming one organ into another: “Complex Drosophila melanogaster wing 10x” Kieran Roy Powell / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (医療薬学教育研究センター): “Pharmacist in the pharmacy” Akeeb Feroz / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (生体統御システム学分野): “Red Fluorescence Microscopy” Jamil Baza / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (衛生化学分野): “Onion cells under the fluorescence microscope 3” Kateryna Kot / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (臨床薬学分野): “US Navy 030819-N-9593R-078 A Navy hospital corpsman unwraps medication to replenish one of the hundreds of bins in the pharmacy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland” U.S. Navy photo by Chief Warrant Officer 4 Seth Rossman. / Public domain (cropped)
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