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Yanagisawa Lab
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The lab explores how blood vessels and stem cells work by studying how cells respond to the environment around them.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring the survival strategies of living organisms through responses to the extracellular environment.
The Yanagisawa Lab studies how cells respond to changes in their surrounding environment, the extracellular environment.
The cells that make up the human body change their cytoskeleton and functions in response to changes in the extracellular environment, and in this way maintain the condition of the body.
The lab focuses on vascular cells (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts) and tissue stem cells, and investigates how cells respond to environments altered by aging and disease.
The lab also continues research on the extracellular matrix, the main component of the extracellular environment, and works with researchers in imaging, bioengineering, and glycoengineering to develop new tools for diagnosis and treatment.
On the lab's website, it is introduced as the "TARA Center Circulation Project, Hiromi Yanagisawa Lab."
Key terms
- extracellular matrix
- The main component of the extracellular environment. The lab has studied the extracellular matrix of blood vessels, skin, and other tissues
- mesenchymal stem cells
- A type of tissue stem cell with a high capacity for self-renewal and for differentiating into various types of cells
- aortic aneurysm
- A disease in which part of the wall of the aorta bulges out. The lab created mice that develop aneurysms in the ascending aorta
NewsLab news
Review article co-authored with Dr. Suowen Xu published
Collaborative research paper published in Communications Biology
Associate Professor Kimura receives the Otaka Award from the Japanese Society for Connective Tissue Research
Follow-up paper on the Fbn1G234D mouse model of aortic dissection published
ResearchResearch themes
Understanding the interaction between cells and their extracellular environment is key to understanding the survival strategies of living organisms, and the lab focuses on vascular cells and tissue stem cells. It works to clarify at the molecular level how cells respond to extracellular environments altered by aging and disease, and explores how this relates to tissue dysfunction.
*Illustrative imageHow Blood Vessels Sense Force
The lab investigates how vascular cells sense the mechanical stress caused by the beating of the heart and convert it into biochemical signals. Using mouse models of vascular disease, it analyzes this through a combination of cell-stretching experiments, live imaging, and genome editing.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding the Properties of Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Little is yet known about how mesenchymal stem cells respond to wound healing in the body and about their capacity for differentiation. The lab creates reporter mice that visualize the environment in the body and examines properties such as self-renewal, differentiation, migration, and tissue regeneration, aiming to realize more effective regenerative medicine.
*Illustrative imageAneurysm Model Mice and the Search for New Treatments
The lab created mice in which fibulin-4, which is abundant in the blood vessel wall, is deleted only in smooth muscle cells, causing ascending aortic aneurysms. Suppressing angiotensin-mediated signaling prevents aneurysm formation, but once an aneurysm has formed, its growth continues through a different mechanism, so the lab is searching for new drug targets.
*Illustrative imageRegulation of Skin Stem Cells
Using mouse skin as a model, the lab investigates the basic properties of tissue stem cells and the mechanisms that regulate their function. It has found that the epidermis contains stem cell populations with different properties, and is exploring how they are regulated during development, homeostasis, injury, and aging.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Yanagisawa Lab consist of faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, collaborators, lab assistants, and administrative staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorHiromi Yanagisawa
- Assistant ProfessorKeiichi Asano
- Assistant ProfessorErna Raja
- Assistant ProfessorMarina Sanaki-Matsumiya
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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: “Flask incubator shaker” Diane A. Reid (Photographer) / Public domain (cropped)
- How Blood Vessels Sense Force: “Formation of the new blood vessels” Piotr Cywoniuk, Foundation of Research and Science Development, Poland Fundacja Badań i Rozwoju Nauki / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Understanding the Properties of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: “Human bone marrow derived MSCs” Chinmaya Mahapatra / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Aneurysm Model Mice and the Search for New Treatments: “Diseased Blood Vessel Model ( )” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Public domain (cropped)
- Regulation of Skin Stem Cells: “Histology of Felidae hair follicles - 40X view” Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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