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70 labs · 11 student voices
Faculties at Chiba University ›
Akihisa Osakabe, Associate Professor
0 student voices
The Epigenome Structure and Dynamics Lab studies the behavior of transposons, which move around within the genome. Transposons make up a large part of plant and animal genomes. While they are a driving force of evolution, they can also disrupt gene function. For this reason, many organisms tightly suppress transposons so that they are not expressed. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the lab investigates this suppression and the mechanisms that evade it, from the molecular level to the whole organism.
Kohji Ito, Professor
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The Biological Molecular Motor Lab studies myosin XI, a motor protein found in plants. Myosin is present in all eukaryotes and forms a large family divided into 79 classes. Plants cannot move, yet myosin XI, found only in plants, moves faster than any other class. Using biochemical and biophysical methods, the lab investigates its function and roles at levels ranging from single molecules to whole plants.
Asako Terasaki, Lecturer
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The Neural Proteomics Lab studies lasp-2, a novel actin-binding protein discovered in the chicken brain. When neurons form networks, the growth cone at the tip of the axon keeps moving until it reaches its target. Actin-binding proteins are essential for the formation of these growth cones and of spines on the receiving side. The lab examines how lasp-2 functions and is regulated in neurons and astrocytes, and how it has evolved.
Hiroyuki Ishikawa, Associate Professor
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The Developmental Genetics Lab studies how animal bodies are formed. The form of a multicellular organism is built and maintained according to a genetic program unique to that organism. The lab believes that even seemingly complex phenomena can be understood as combinations of events at the level of cells and molecules. Focusing on cell-to-cell communication, the lab combines in vitro biochemistry with genetics using Drosophila melanogaster.
Reiko Tajiri, Associate Professor
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The Morphogenesis Lab studies how organisms make the materials that shape their own bodies. Like vertebrate bone and plant cell walls, the cuticle, which is the shell and skin of insects, is a matrix built outside the cell (an extracellular matrix). The properties of the cuticle are remarkably diverse: the hardness of a rhinoceros beetle, the brilliance of a jewel beetle, the water repellency of a water strider's legs. The lab studies how insects build, outside their cells, the nano- to micro-scale three-dimensional structures that give rise to these properties.
Naruki Sato, Associate Professor
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The Muscle Developmental Biology Lab studies how muscle is built and how it works. For a muscle cell to contract, the proteins it has made must assemble correctly into myofibrils. Another question the lab wants to answer is how the assembled proteins produce coordinated contraction. Using the regulation of contraction by troponin and the function of myosin-binding proteins as clues, the lab investigates these mechanisms.
Kazunori Takano, Assistant Professor
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The Biomolecular Dynamics Lab studies signal transduction, the mechanisms that transmit information inside cells. Cell functions are controlled by a series of reactions in which receptors receive information from outside and relay it inside. DA-Raf, a protein discovered by this lab, suppresses the Ras–ERK pathway, which is involved in carcinogenesis. The lab studies the function of DA-Raf and the mechanisms by which skeletal muscle is formed and regenerated, from the perspective of signal transduction.
Takeshi Asakawa, Associate Professor
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The Evolutionary Diversity Lab studies how the diversity of species came about. Anywhere from 3 million to 100 million species are said to live on Earth. This diversity has been shaped by repeated extinction and speciation over Earth's long history. The lab pursues two lines of research: directly investigating past diversity from fossils, and studying speciation in living organisms.
Tatsuya Togashi, Professor
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The Plant Evolutionary Ecology Lab studies the evolutionary mechanisms that gave rise to gametes of different sizes, such as sperm and eggs. Anisogamy is thought to have driven the evolution of sexual dimorphism in form and behavior. Sperm, which are small and produced in large numbers, compete for eggs, which are large and produced in small numbers, and this gives rise to sexual selection. Using marine green algae, the lab traces the evolutionary pathway through multiple approaches: theory, empirical study, and molecular mechanisms.
Tomonori Kikuchi, Associate Professor
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The Animal Evolutionary Ecology Lab studies the mechanisms by which societies arise when animals live together in groups. The acquisition of sociality is counted as one of the seven major transitions in evolution, and elucidating its evolutionary mechanisms is an important theme in evolutionary ecology. The lab focuses on how the properties of a group emerge from interactions between individuals. Its research covers animals with differing degrees of sociality, from hermit crabs to ants, using methods from behavioral ecology, chemical ecology, and molecular biology.
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