01 Research Summary
Cellular homeostasis is regulated by a series of chemical reactions such as signals and metabolism in response to environmental stimuli. A variety of responses through the plasma membrane are integrated into the nucleus, where histones, transcription factors, ribosome proteins, and RNAs are modified by methylation that is catalyzed by enzymes, thereby controlling epigenome and gene expression. In my laboratory, we aim to understand the molecular mechanisms of lifespan and pregnancy-associated diseases by identifying new methyltransferases, and how nutritional and stress conditions regulate epigenomic functions, by using the genetic techniques with animal models such as Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and mice.
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02 Major achievements
Sha L, Daitoku H, Araoi S, Kaneko Y, Takahashi Y, Kako K, Fukamizu A. Asymmetric arginine dimethylation modulates mitochondrial energy metabolism and homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol. Cell. Biol. 2017 37 (6), pii: e00504-16. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00504-16.
Nezu M, Souma T, Yu L, Sekine H, Takahashi N, Wei AZ, Ito S, Fukamizu A, Zsengeller ZK, Nakamura T, Hozawa A, Karumanchi SA, Suzuki N, Yamamoto M. Nrf2 inactivation enhances placental angiogenesis in a preeclampsia mouse model and improves maternal and fetal outcomes. Science Signal. 2017 10 (479). pii: eaam5711. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.aam5711
Kim JD, Park KE, Ishida J, Kako K, Hamada J, Kani S, Takeuchi M, Namiki K, Fukui H, Fukuhara S, Hibi M, Kobayashi M, Kanaho Y, Kasuya Y, Mochizuki N, Fukamizu A. PRMT8 as a phospholipase regulates Purkinje cell dendritic arborization and motor coordination. Science Adv. 2015 1(11), e1500615. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500615
03 Education/Academic background and major awards
Education/Academic background
1987 | Research Associate at the Institute of Applied Biochemistry, Gene Experiment Center, University of Tsukuba. |
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1990 | Assistant Professor at the Institute of Applied Biochemistry, University of Tsukuba. |
1995 | Associate Professor at the Institute of Applied Biochemistry, University of Tsukuba. |
1999 | Professor and Aspect Director, Aspect of Functional Genomic Biology, Center for Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, University of Tsukuba |
2002 | Program Leader in The 21st Century COE Program (Life Science), Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba |
2006 | Director, Center for Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance (TARA), University of Tsukuba |
2010 | Vice Director and Professor, Life Science Center, TARA, University of Tsukuba |
2011 | Program Leader in “Transcription and Metabolism” of the MEXT, Japan (〜2015) |
2014 | Principle Investigator of the NeXTEP in the JST, Japan. |
awards
1993 | Young Investigator’s Award from Japan Vascular Disease Research Foundation. |
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1993 | Nikkei BP Award (Medical Science Aspect) from Nikkei Business Publication. |
1996 | Tsukuba Prize from Ibaraki Science and Technology Foundation. |
1996 | Young Investigator’s Award from the Japanese Society of Biochemistry. |
1998 | Jokichi Takamine Young Investigator’s Award from the Japanese Society of Cardiovascular and Endocrinological Metabolism. |
2015 | Jokichi Takamine Award from the Japanese Society of Cardiovascular and Endocrinological Metabolism. |
Core Group
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Neuroscience
Masashi Yanagisawa
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Neuroscience
Takeshi Sakurai
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Data Science
Hiroyuki Kitagawa
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Neuroscience
Robert Greene
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Neuroscience
Hiromasa Funato
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Neuroscience
Qinghua Liu
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Neuroscience
Kaspar Vogt
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Neuroscience
Yu Hayashi
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Neuroscience
Masanori Sakaguchi
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Human sleep
Kumpei Tokuyama
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Neuroscience
Michael Lazarus
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Neuroscience
Sakiko Honjoh
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Human sleep
Takashi Abe
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Neuroscience
Yo Oishi
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Neuroscience
Katsuyasu Sakurai
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Neuroscience
Arisa Hirano
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Human sleep
Takashi Kanbayashi
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Neuroscience
Hirofumi Toda
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Drug discovery
Noriki Kutsumura
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Human sleep
Tomohiro Okura
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Data Science
Shoi Shi
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Drug discovery
Tsuyoshi Saitoh