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Biomolecular Dynamics Lab
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A lab that uses imaging to explore how proteins become unevenly distributed in plant cells.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering the secrets of the functional beauty of plants through imaging
The Biomolecular Dynamics Group studies how plants, which cannot move from where they grow, live in accordance with their environment, by looking at the movement of molecules inside cells.
Centered on live-cell imaging, which observes living cells, the group investigates how cell polarity arises and how transporters that carry nutrients move.
The group belongs to the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM).
Together with chemists at ITbM and the Frommer Group at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in Germany, the group also develops tools for visualizing biomolecules.
Key terms
- Cell polarity
- The uneven arrangement of proteins and other components on one side of the cell surface. It determines how the cell functions
- Live-cell imaging
- A method of observing living cells under a microscope and recording the changes occurring inside them as images
- Transporter
- A protein in the cell membrane that carries substances such as nutrients and hormones into and out of the cell
- Biosensor
- A molecule that makes the amount of a specific substance inside a cell readable as a change in light intensity or color
NewsLab news
Preprint on plant cell polarity released on bioRxiv
Review on the "memory" of plant cell walls published in New Phytologist
The Frommer-Yoshinari Group launches, with Project Lecturer Yoshinari joining as Co-PI
ResearchResearch themes
Centered on live-cell imaging, the lab studies how cell polarity arises in plants, how the movement of nutrient transporters is controlled, and how plants respond to their environment. Through collaboration with chemists at ITbM and others, it also develops the biomolecular imaging tools that support this research.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms of plant cell polarity
How cell polarity, in which proteins are unevenly arranged on the cell surface, is established in plants is still not understood. Using the boric acid-transporting membrane proteins BOR1 and NIP5;1, which are localized to the inner and outer sides of root tissue cells, as models, the lab searches for compounds that disrupt polarity and for new proteins that are unevenly localized.
*Illustrative imageBiosensors that measure sugars and hormones
The lab develops biosensors that use fluorescent proteins to measure the amounts of sugars and plant hormones inside cells. Together with chemistry groups at ITbM, it also builds imaging tools that use small fluorescent molecules.
*Illustrative imageHow transporters select the substances they carry
Membrane transporters sometimes carry several substances with different shapes. Together with other groups at ITbM, the lab investigates how transporters select the substances they carry, and is also developing transporter inhibitors that can be used in agricultural research.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Biomolecular Dynamics Group consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, secretaries, and PhD and master's students.As of 2026
- Project LecturerAkira Yoshinari
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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: “Arabidopsis root hairs” G Lens Microscopist, Megan Gerber / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Mechanisms of plant cell polarity: “Confocal His2b sorbitol” Zirc / Public domain (cropped)
- Biosensors that measure sugars and hormones: “XBio illustration – GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein)” explorebiology / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- How transporters select the substances they carry: “3.1 A resolution structure of a eukaryotic SWEET transporter” Sxu343 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (植物生理学): “Cuticle of leaf under microscope” Tyanna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (細胞時
空間統御): “Elodea cells under microscope” ~delta / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (植物化学遺伝学): “Striga hermonthica single flower” Aneth David (SLU) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (光生物学): “Plant-cell-sucrose-gradient-fractions” Zuzanna K. Filutowska / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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