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451 labs · 32 student voices
Michio Ogasawara, Associate Professor
0 student voices
The Gene Function and Morphology Lab studies how the form and function of animal bodies have evolved. Its clues come from sea squirts and amphioxus, which belong to the same group as humans: the chordates. Because animals live by taking in food, the lab focuses on the organs around the digestive tract and the genes that work in them. It takes on unsolved questions, such as how the endostyle of sea squirts is connected to the thyroid gland of vertebrates.
Kiyoe Ura, Professor
0 student voices
The Chromatin Metabolism Regulation Lab studies the function of histones, the proteins that genomic DNA wraps around. Inside the cell nucleus, DNA wraps around histones to form a structure called chromatin. DNA reactions such as replication, transcription, repair, and recombination all take place on this chromatin. The lab focuses on chemical modifications of histones and investigates how they work from two sides: gene expression and DNA repair. The lab is jointly run by Professor Kiyoe Ura and Associate Professor Akira Sassa, and the two share common research rules and the same broad research direction.
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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
0 student voices
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.
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