Previous lab news 2018

3th November 2018
4 lab members (Takashi Toda, Masashi Yukawa, Ryo Moriyama, Satoshi Muto) attended 36th Yeast Workshop held at Ehime University.
Masashi presented an overview of our research and Ryo and Satoshi gave both oral and poster presentations.

The titles were
Rio Moriyama
分裂酵母を利用した新規生理活性物質の探索と解析
Screening and characterisation of new anti-fungal compounds using fission yeast

Satoshi Muto
分裂酵母５型キネシンcut7変異を抑圧する多コピーサプレッサーの取得と解析
Isolation and characterisation of multi-copy suppressors of cut7 mutants defective in fission yeast Kinesin-5

11th and 12th October 2018
Takashi Toda attended MIRAI Seminar “Sustainable Social System and Technology for Ageing Society)” held at Wasoeda University. This event was organised by researchers belonging to several universities in Japan (Hiroshima University is one of them) and Sweden by which to aim to promote international collaborations between these two nations. Takashi presented an oral talk. His title was “Towards achieving healthy ageing society-from basic biology to applied science”.

The photo was taken with Dr Masayuki Kakehashi (Professor at Hiroshima University).

10th-12th September 2018

６ lab members (Takashi Toda, Masashi Yukawa, Yusuke Yamada, Tomoki Kawakami, Mitsuki Ohishi and Yasuhiro Teratani) attended 51st annual meeting of Yeast Genetic Society of Japan held in Kyushu University and presented their works.

Oral talk

Takashi Toda: Exploring specific inhibitors against human Kinesin-14 using fission yeast (分裂酵母を用いたヒト１４型キネシン阻害剤の探索)

Masashi Yukawa: Identification of molecular pathways leading to mitotic bipolar spindle formation (M期紡錘体の双極性構造形成に働く分子経路の探索)

Tomoki Kawakami:A novel role of the Alp7-Alp14 microtubule polymerase as a force generator in bipolar spindle formation (双極性紡錘体形成における力発生装置としての微小管ポリメラーゼ複合体Alp7-Alp14の新規機能)

Yusuke Yamada: Identification and characterisation of microtubule associated proteins that antagonise Kinesin-5/Cut7 in fission yeast (分裂酵母Kinesin-5/Cut7と拮抗的に機能する微小管関連因子群の同定と解析)

Poster presentation:

Yasuhiro Teratani: Systematic identification and analysis of cut7 mutations isolated with PCR-based mutagenesis (PCR法を用いた分裂酵母5型キネシンcut7変異体の包括的分離と解析)

Mitsuki Ohishi: Analysis of an RNA binding protein Nrp1 that, when mutated, suppresses the lethal cut7 mutation (M期紡錘体形成に必須な分裂酵母５型キネシンcut7変異を抑制するRNA結合タンパク質遺伝子nrp1の解析)

21st June 2018

Dr Takayuki Koyano gave a talk in 30th HiHA seminar. The title was “腎臓病の病態解明に向けた分子遺伝学的解析―ゲノム編集技術を利用したモデル動物作製から解析まで―”.

Dr Koyano graduated from Department of Molecular Biotechnology Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University and obtained PhD. After that, he joined Takashi Toda’s laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and spent for two years in London (2013-2015). Then he got a research scientist job in Shigei Medical Research Institute (重井医学研究所) in Okayama, Japan.

13th June 2018
Takashi Toda and Masashi Yukawa visited Professor Wataru Yasui (安井　弥教授, on the left in the photo) and Associate Professor Naohide Oue (大上直秀准教授, on the right) in Department of Molecular Pathology, Institute of Biomedical & Health Science, Hiroshima University, and discussed potential collaborative research on human kinesin molecules and their inhibitors. Professor Yasui’s group has found that several kinesin genes including KifC1/HSET are specifically upregulated in many cancer stem cells including gastric, oesophageal and colorectal cancers. They have further shown that knockdown of these kinesin genes kill various cancer cells. Takashi Toda’s group has been working on kinesins in fission yeast and recently shown that KifC1/HSET is functional in fission yeast. Furthermore, they have been developing novel inhibitors specific to human kinesin.

6th and 7th Jun 2018
Takashi Toda attended Joint Annual Meeting of 51st JSDB (Japanese Society of Developmental Biology) and 70th JSCB (Japan Society for Cell Biology) held in Tokyo, and gave an oral talk and also did a poster presentation.

Title
Exploring the molecular pathways leading to bipolar spindle formation

Authors
Takashi Toda, Masaki Okazaki, Tomoaki Yamauchi, Yusuke Yamada, Tomoki Kawakami, Yasuhiro Teratani, Mitsuki Oishi and Masashi Yukawa

The photo was taken in front of the poster. Masazumi Tada came from UK. He is Lecturer at the department of Cell and Developmental Biology in University College London. Masazumi is a developmental biologist working on zebrafish and Takashi’s good friend as well. Takashi collaborated with him on the Msd1 project and published one joint paper in EMBO Reports in 2014.

16th May 2018

President Michio Ochi of Hiroshima University invited Nobel Laureate, Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi (2016 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology,Tokyo Institute of Technology) as a special lecturer for an opening event of new faculties, School of Informatics and Data Science and Department of Integrated Global Studies (情報科学部と総合科学部国際共創学科).

The event was held in Hiroshima Grand Prince Hotel. It consisted of a lecture by Professor Ohsumi, followed by a celebration party for these newly established faculties. Takashi Toda and Masashi Yukawa attended this event.

14th April

Annual get-gather party for regional yeast researchers was held on 14th April at National Research Institute of Brewing within the science park in HIgashi-Hiroshima. This year the party was organised by Professor Akinori Matsushika at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science(AIST). Approximately 60 yeast researchers working in the HIgashi-Hiroshima area attended. From our group, five members (Takashi Toda, Masashi Yukawa, Mitsuki Ohishi, Ryo Murayama and Satoshi Muto) attended and enjoyed talking to attendants and drinking sake.

9th April

A new paper was published from Takashi Toda and Masashi Yukawa group. This work was achieved through international collaborations performed by three research teams in Hiroshima University (Toda and Yukawa), Iwate University (Ken-ichi Kimura) and CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute in India (Shakil Ahmed). The research was in part supported by a JSPS grant “Fostering international researchers through the collaborative research network focusing on the mechanisms of lifespan regulation ”.

Authors: Masashi Yukawa, Tomoaki Yamauchi, Naoaki Kurisawa, Shakil Ahmed, Ken-ichi Kimura, and Takashi Toda
Titile: Fission yeast cells overproducing HSET/KIFC1 provides a useful tool for identification and evaluation of human kinesin-14 inhibitors
Journal: Fungal Genetics and Biology　Volume 116, July 2018, Pages 33–41 Abstract

23th March

The second year graduate school students, Masaki Okazaki and Tomoaki Yamauchi, have completed the academic degree (Master degree) and graduated from Hiroshima University (photo).
Many congratulations. Masaki and Tomoaki worked very hard, performed wonderful jobs and made great achievements while they were with us.
Farewell to both of them and good luck with new places.

The fourth year undergraduate students, Mitsuki Ohishi and Yasuhiro Teratani, have finished the undergaraduate course and will be enrolled into the graduate programmes from April.

13th and 14th March
Takashi Toda attended the 10th HOPE meeting held in Yokohama, Japan. HOPE Meetings have been organized by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) since 2008. The title “HOPE” signifies the promise held for young scientists and optimism for a bright science and technology future in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region. Eight Nobel Prize laureates from both Japan and overseas gathered this year together with ~100 young researchers from over 20 countries.

Takashi was the moderator for Dr Tim Hunt. Sir Tim was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland Hartwell and Paul Nurse for his discovery of the ‘disappearing’ molecule called Cyclin, a “key regulator of the cell cycle”. Takashi know Dr Tim Hunt very well, as they used to work in London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK (now the Francis Crick Institute), collaborate and publish joint papers.

17th February 2018

A new paper on which Dr Corinne Pinder (a research scientist in Dr Takashi Toda group) is a co-author, was published.
The paper ‘LARP7 family proteins have conserved function in telomerase assembly’ appeared in Nature Communications online.
Dr Corinne Pinder was supported by a JSPS grant “Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers”-funded 『Fostering international researchers through the collaborative research network focusing on the mechanisms of lifespan regulation』.

[SUMMARY]
This work was performed in Dr Kazu Tomita group (University College London, London UK) under collaboration with groups in both London, UK (UCL and Imperial College) and Massachusetts, USA (Salem State University.
The work addresses the important question of telomerase regulation, a crucial enzyme in ageing and cancer, and differences in telomerase biogenesis between species. Specifically, fission yeast Lar7 is a conserved RNA-binding protein that protects telomerase RNA from degradation. Lar7 also stabilises the formation of the mature telomerase complex for its localisation to the telomere for stable genome propagation and healthy ageing.
Dr Corinne Pinder was currently supported by JSPS grant『Fostering international researchers through the collaborative research network focusing on the mechanisms of lifespan regulation』. Dr Kazu Tomita received PhD in Shizuoka University in the laboratory of Dr Masaru Ueno (currently a core member of HiHA).

[PUBLICATIONS]
Collopy LC, Ware TL, Goncalves T, S IK, Yang Q, Amelina H, Pinder C, Alenazi A, Moiseeva V, Pearson SR, Armstrong CA, Tomita K (2018). LARP7 family proteins have conserved function in telomerase assembly. Nat Commun 9, 557.
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02296-4>

日本語

7th February 2018

Takashi Toda gave a talk at the National Institute of Basic Biology in Okazaki.
The title of the talk was “極東酵母の微小管日記　(Microtubule diary from far (y)east)”.

Photos

Taken with Dr Yoshiaki Kamata (left, Assistant Professor) and Dr Akira Yakashita (right, Associate Professor) at the Maruya Hatcho Miso factory (まるや、八丁味噌工場).

Taken with Dr Masayuki Yamamoto (the third from the right, Director of the NIBB) and Dr Tomomi Tsubouchi (the third from the left, a host, Associate Professor) at HASEBE, eel （うなぎ） restaurant..