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Photobiology Lab
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A lab that keeps watching living plant cells to explore how plants respond to their environment.
AboutAbout the lab
Watching the private life of plants in living cells
The Photobiology Group studies the private life of plants through live-cell analysis built on live-imaging technology.
While continuing to observe living cells, the group investigates the positioning of organelles, the elongation of pollen tubes and root hairs, the movement of plant hormones, and the mechanisms of plant regeneration.
The lab has an environment where techniques from other fields can be used routinely, such as small-molecule fluorescent probes made by organic synthesis and microfluidic channels made by microfabrication.
The group can also use the cutting-edge imaging equipment of the Nagoya University Live Imaging Center.
Key terms
- Live-cell analysis
- A method of studying living cells by continuing to observe them alive under a microscope
- Organelle
- A structure inside a cell that supports the cell's functions
- Physcomitrium patens
- A species of moss (bryophyte). This lab uses it to study organelles and regeneration
- Reprogramming
- The phenomenon in which a differentiated cell with a specialized role becomes a pluripotent stem cell that can give rise to various types of cells
ResearchResearch themes
Plants cannot escape from where they grow, so they must endure unfavorable environments, and over the course of evolution they have acquired sophisticated responses to environmental change. To clarify the mechanisms of environmental responses such as the response to light, the Photobiology Group places emphasis on "continuing to watch living cells."
*Illustrative imageHow organelle positioning is determined
The lab investigates the mechanisms that determine when, where, and how many organelles are placed. Mainly in the moss Physcomitrium patens, it uses the cytoskeleton labeled with fluorescent proteins and probes from synthetic organic chemistry.
*Illustrative imageHow plant cells elongate
The lab studies how pollen tubes and root hairs respond when they encounter narrow gaps. Experiments with microfluidic channels that the lab made showed that they can keep growing by passing through a gap of 1 micrometer.
*Illustrative imageMapping the movement of plant hormones
The lab is trying to clarify the "speed" and "direction" of plant hormone movement. By developing fluorescent plant hormones together with synthetic organic chemists and directly visualizing movement between cells, it aims to contribute to building a plant hormone flow atlas.
*Illustrative imageHow plants regenerate
When a single leaf cell of Physcomitrium patens is isolated, it becomes a stem cell and regenerates into a whole plant. The lab investigates the mechanism of this phenomenon (reprogramming) using single-cell analysis equipment, AI robotics technology, and other methods.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Photobiology Group consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, technical staff, technical assistants, and administrative assistants.As of 2025
- Project Associate ProfessorYoshikatsu Sato
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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: “Plant-cell-sucrose-gradient-fractions” Zuzanna K. Filutowska / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How organelle positioning is determined: “Plant Cells, Being Plasmolyzed” Ouotro / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- How plant cells elongate: “Monocot Root Epidermal Root Hair in Lilium ( )” Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library / CC0 (cropped)
- Mapping the movement of plant hormones: “Hormone Transport” Adapted from an image by Frédéric Bouché / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How plants regenerate: “Plant tissue culture sample” Syed Sajidul Islam / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (細胞構造学): “Physcomitrella Sporophyt” Manuel Mildner & Annette Hohe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (多細胞秩序): “Plant Tissue Culture Lab - Atlanta Botanical Garden” Daderot / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (生体分
子動態): “Arabidopsis root hairs” G Lens Microscopist, Megan Gerber / CC BY 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (内分
泌シグナル研究): “Drosophila melanogaster under a microscope 01” Gannu03 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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