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Nakatogawa Lab
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The lab investigates autophagy, the mechanism by which cells break down their own components.
AboutAbout the lab
Decoding how cells eat themselves.
The Nakatogawa Lab studies the mechanism of autophagy, in which cells degrade their own components.
In autophagy, a membrane appears inside the cell, encloses the material to be degraded, and carries it to the vacuole or lysosome, where it is broken down.
Using budding yeast, the lab examines at the molecular level how this membrane is formed and what it encloses.
Combining various methods, from microscopy observation to reconstitution in test tubes, the lab tackles these mysteries.
Key terms
- Autophagy
- A mechanism in which a cell wraps part of itself in a membrane and degrades it, reusing the materials for rebuilding
- Vacuole
- A large sac-like organelle in yeast and plant cells. It contains degradative enzymes and breaks down what is delivered to it
- Budding yeast
- A single-celled organism used in bread and sake making. It reproduces by budding and is widely used in cell research
NewsLab news
A lab review was published in Autophagy
A paper was published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
A paper was published in EMBO J.
A master's student received the Student Excellent Poster Presentation Award at the Japan Society for Cell Biology conference
A lab review was published in Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to elucidate the molecular actions underlying autophagy, in which cells degrade their own components. Using budding yeast, it combines methods from cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry, and it also carries out joint research with groups specializing in structural biology.
*Illustrative imageHow autophagosomes are formed
For the autophagosome, the double membrane that encloses the material to be degraded, the lab aims to explain in molecular terms how the seed of the membrane is made, and how it elongates and closes into a sphere.
*Illustrative imageHow targets are selected for degradation
Autophagy has a selective mode that targets and encloses damaged mitochondria and bacteria that have invaded the cell, among other things. The lab investigates how targets are recognized and how their degradation is controlled.
MembersFaculty
The Nakatogawa Lab consists of faculty members, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, technical staff, and secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorHitoshi NakatogawaPublications ↗
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RelatedLabs similar to Nakatogawa Lab
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Nobuhiro Nakamura LabSchool of Life Science and Technology, Department of Life Science and TechnologyMolecular biology, cell biology, biological informaticsThe 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: “S cerevisiae septins” Spitfire ch, Philippsen Lab, Biozentrum Basel / Public domain (cropped)
- How autophagosomes are formed: “The surface of highly curved lipid bilayer” Semen Yesylevskyy / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- How targets are selected for degradation: “Mitochondria in living HeLa cells” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (藤田研究室): “Drosophila melanogaster under microscope” Talita Oliveira / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (堀江研究室): “Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEM” Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (北尾研究室): “Vmd screenshot” Hwttdz / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (中村信大研究室): “Multicolor fluorescence image of a living PC-12 cell” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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