GO TOP

Field

Ecological Developmental Adaptability Life Sciences :
Biological Dynamics

Research

Assistant Professor NINOMIYA Komaki
Campus Aobayama campus
Laboratory Histogenetic Dynamics
Tel +81-22-795-6701
E-mail komaki.ninomiya.b5@tohoku.ac.jp
When I looked in a microscope and saw the dynamics of cellular structures for the first time, I found myself eager to see and learn more and more about the elaborate mechanisms behind the cellular behaviors. I enjoy reading books, eating at new restaurants, and spending quality time with my friends, family and colleagues.
Career
Mar. 2016    B.Sc., Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University
Mar. 2021    Ph.D., Department of Molecular and Chemical Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University
Oct. 2019 - Apr. 2020   Intern, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Apr. 2021 - Mar. 2022  Postdoctoral researcher, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University
Apr. 2020 - Mar.-2022   Research fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC and PD)
Apr. 2022 - Present     Assistant professor, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University
 
Selected Publications
Komaki Ninomiya, Kai Ohta, Ukyo Kawasaki, Shuhei Chiba, Takanari Inoue, Erina Kuranaga, Kazumasa Ohashi, and Kensaku Mizuno “Calcium influx promotes PLEKHG4B localization to cell-cell junctions and regulates the integrity of junctional actin filaments.” Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2024 Feb 1;35(2):ar24. , 2024
 
Komaki Ninomiya, Kai Ohta, Kazunari Yamashita, Kensaku Mizuno, and Kazumasa Ohashi “PLEKHG4B enables actin cytoskeletal remodeling during epithelial cell-cell junction formation.” Journal of Cell Science, 27;134(2): jcs249078, 2021
Activities in Academic Societies
Japan Society for Cell Biology
The Molecular Biology Society of Japan
Japanese Biochemical Society

Recent Activities

I studied actin cytoskeletal dynamics focusing on cell-cell junction formation during my Ph.D. course. Cell-cell junction formation is a multistep process that involves actin cytoskeletal reorganization and the regulation of actin-dependent contractility, but the underlying molecular mechanism still has been elusive. I revealed that a Rho-GEF named PLEKHG4B is the novel player in the epithelial cell-cell junction formation, particularly in the step of regulating the contractility during junction maturation. I would like to continue investigating the mechanisms to achieve the dynamic cellular behaviors during tissue morphogenesis in vivo.