Specially-appointed Associate Professor KISHIMOTO Takuma
Campus | Aobayama campus |
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Laboratory |
Organelle Pathophysiology
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Tel | +81-22-765-6678 |
takuma.kishimoto.e8@tohoku.ac.jp |
Career |
1996 B.E., Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University
2000 M.E., Molecular Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
2006 Ph,D., Cancer Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University
2006-2010 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Berkeley, USA
2010-2011 Postdoctoral Researcher, RIKEN
2011-2014 Special Postdoctoral Researcher, RIKEN
2014-2016 Assistant Professor, Kyorin University School of Medicine
2017-2023 Assistant Professor, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University
2024-2024 Specially Appointed Lecturer, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University
2024-present Specially Appointed Associate Professor (Research), Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University
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Selected Publications |
2024
2020
2018
2017
2016
2015
2013
2011
2010
2008
2005
2003
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Activities in Academic Societies |
Japanese Biochemical Society, Japan Society for Cell Biology, The Japanese Conference on the biochemistry of lipids, Yeast Genetics Society of Japan
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Recent Activities
I have been studying the various biological events at the cellular level in terms of the lipids that constitute membranes. Up to the present, I have been involved in the development of tools for the intracellular visualization of lipids, and have applied these techniques to approaches of genetics and cell biology in my research. In particular, my recent research has focused on sterols (cholesterol in humans, ergosterol in fungi, etc.). Although this molecule has been discovered 250 years ago and its importance has become clear, there are still many questions that remain unanswered. Recently, in addition to the transport proteins that exchange sterol molecules with the membrane, I have shown that the distribution of the phospholipids that make up the membrane is necessary for membrane homeostasis of sterol molecules.
We phenotypically analyzed yeast genetic mutants of flippases and Sfk1, which are involved in phospholipid asymmetry at the plasma membrane. The results revealed that disruption of asymmetry impairs plasma membrane sterol retention, thereby causing abnormalities in various machineries involved in plasma membrane, and that phospholipid asymmetry is essential for plasma membrane sterol retention (Kishimoto, T., et al. (2021), Mol Biol Cell.).
The distribution of sterols was analyzed using the plasma membrane spreading process. The results revealed that the distribution of cholesterol between the bilayers of the plasma membrane changes the balance between the outer and inner layers during the formation of filopodia, thereby controlling the activity of Cdc42, a Small GTPase, to promote filopodia formation (Kishimoto, T., et al. (2020), FASEB J.).