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Komada-Fukushima Lab
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A lab that uses ubiquitin to uncover how cells work and what lies behind disease.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how cells work and what causes disease through ubiquitin.
The Komada-Fukushima Lab studies the intracellular signaling of growth factors, which control the activities of animal cells.
Ubiquitin, a small protein, is involved in the transmission of these signals in many different ways.
When ubiquitin attaches to a partner protein as a tag, the amount and properties of that protein change, and the signal is regulated.
Abnormalities in the signals or in the molecular machinery that receives them cause disease, so the lab is also pursuing research that leads to the development of treatments.
Key terms
- Ubiquitin
- A small protein that attaches to other proteins inside cells. The attachment acts as a tag that changes the fate of the partner protein.
- Deubiquitinating enzyme
- An enzyme that removes ubiquitin attached to a target protein.
- Endocytosis
- The process by which a cell indents part of its membrane and takes in material from the outside as vesicles.
NewsLab news
Collaborative paper on an inhibitor of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP5 published
Collaborative paper on a deubiquitinating enzyme that acts in kidney glomerular podocytes published
Master's student wins the MBSJ-EMBO Poster Award 2025
The lab's review article accepted by the journal Placenta
ResearchResearch themes
The lab focuses on the intracellular signaling of growth factors, which control a wide variety of activities in animal cells, and studies its molecular mechanisms. Centered on a cell biology approach using cultured cells, the work ranges from nanoscale analysis of the elementary steps of signaling in vitro to whole-animal analysis using genetically modified mice.
*Illustrative imageGrowth signaling and ubiquitination
When a growth factor binds to a receptor on the cell membrane, a growth signal is sent into the cell. When ubiquitin attaches to the receptor as a tag, the receptor is taken into the cell by endocytosis, and when a deubiquitinating enzyme removes the ubiquitin, the receptor returns to the cell membrane. The lab has shown that the balance between these two activities regulates how much of the receptor is taken up.
*Illustrative imageUbiquitin abnormalities and intractable diseases
Mutations in the gene for the deubiquitinating enzyme USP8 were found in pituitary tumors that cause Cushing's disease. In collaboration with a group in Germany, the lab showed that these mutations make growth signaling excessive, and it has also begun research to develop a therapeutic drug.
*Illustrative imageUbiquitin supporting diverse cell functions
Ubiquitin can be linked together in many different ways, and these differences change how the target protein is regulated. The lab has shown that ubiquitination is involved in a wide range of cell functions, including insulin signaling, the formation of stress granules and the nucleolus, and the intracellular transport of collagen.
*Illustrative imageA brake on cell proliferation in the placenta and mammary gland
The lab discovered the kinase Nrk, which appears only in the placenta and the mammary gland, tissues unique to mammals. Mice lacking this gene show placental hyperplasia and develop breast cancer at a high frequency, suggesting that Nrk acts to prevent cells from proliferating excessively.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Komada-Fukushima Lab are faculty members, students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs, and research students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMasayuki KomadaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorToshiaki FukushimaPublications ↗
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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: “Ubiquitin cartoon” en:User:Rogerdodd / Public domain (cropped)
- Growth signaling and ubiquitination: “Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) with Spitz protein” Kaileypaar / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Ubiquitin abnormalities and intractable diseases: “High magnification histology of pars distalis of the anterior pituitary gland” Mikael Häggström, M.D. / CC0 (cropped)
- Ubiquitin supporting diverse cell functions: “Collagen fibrils in rabbit skin” Vincesherman / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- A brake on cell proliferation in the placenta and mammary gland: “Black-mouse-trio-in-cage-2” Commissioned by Understanding Animal Research / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (田川陽一研究室): “96 well plate” J.N. Eskra / CC BY-SA 4.0 (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)
- Related lab (加藤研究室): “Takifugu poecilonotus by DaijuAzuma” Daiju Azuma / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (立花研究室): “Aglantha digitale medusa” Belostomatid / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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