Principal investigatorName: Yuu KimataAssistant Professor , PhD, Assistant Professor
Position: Affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology
Honor: Education Background:
Working Experience:
Group Introduction Research Area:
Developmental Cell Biology, Cell Cycle Regulation, Cancer Biology
Research Interests:
The cell cycle is a fundamental and universal process for all living things. The molecular mechanisms controlling the cell cycle are conserved throughout eukaryotes, from simple unicellular organisms to highly complex multicellular organisms including us, humans. In multicellular organisms, cell proliferation must be coordinated with cell differentiation for proper development as well as for adult tissue homeostasis. Indeed, uncoupling of cell cycle regulation from differentiation underlies various diseases and unfavourable physiological conditions in humans, such as cancer, tissue degeneration and ageing. Thus, the understanding of the mechanisms that integrate cell cycle control with developmental and homeostatic processes is important not only for basic biology but also for improving our health and quality of life. Our laboratory combines advanced genetic and imaging techniques with sophisticated biochemical assays and bioinformatics methodology, to uncover the universal mechanisms that coordinate the cell cycle and cell differentiation. We are currently searching for as-yet unidentified fate-determining functions of cell cycle proteins in the Drosophila system and are also extending our findings about the APC/C in human cells and mammalian tissues. Since cell cycle proteins are promising anti-tumour targets, our research on the roles ofcell cycle regulators in their physiological contexts will help pave the way to developing new therapeutic strategies against cancer. We are always seeking for passionate, self-driven students who wish to get onboard in our scientific exploration. For more information about our research and lab, please visit our website: http://www.kimatalab.com/. Research AchievementUsing the powerful metazoan model, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, we recently discovered novel functions of the master cell cycle regulator, the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C), in the coordination of cell specification processes with cell cycle progression. APC/C regulates the signal transduction of the conserved intercellular signalling pathway, Wnt pathway, during retinal differentiation (Martins et al., 2017 Dev. Cell) and also controls the activity of the animal-specific organelle called centrosome during the asymmetric cell division of neural stem cells (Meghini et al., 2016 Nature Comms; Gambarrotto et al., 2019 Dev. Cell). These findings by us and reports from other labs suggest that, in multicellular organisms,major cell cycle regulators regulate cell differentiation in conjunction with the cell cycle, to act as intracellular coordinators of cell proliferation and differentiation (see our recent review: Kimata Y et al., 2020, FEBS Letters). We have been working together with international collaborators with different expertise: David Glover (Caltech, USA), Hiroyuki Yamano (University College London, UK), Renata Basto (Institute Curie, France), Andrea Brand and Marc de la Roche (University of Cambridge, UK), and Takashi Ochi (University of Leeds), to explore key mechanisms in the coupling between cell proliferation and differentiation and to apply our discoveries in medicine and technological innovations. Representative Publications (*First Author, # Corresponding Author)
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