Live Cell Molecular Imaging Research Team

Imaging is one of the most important methodologies of the modern life science. Development of useful fluorescent/luminescence probes and the advancement of light microscope technologies enable us real-time observation of living cells and tissues. We will exploit cutting-edge microscopic technologies with visible light, observe, measure and manipulate proteins and membranes within living cells to understand mechanisms of live phenomena. We will also aim at introducing the new light sources that are created by other teams of the Extreme Photonics Department into the imaging technologies of live materials.

Research Fields

Engineering / Biology & Biochemistry / Molecular Biology & Genetics / Plant & Animal Science / Microbiology / Multidisciplinary

Research Subjects

• Cutting-edge live imaging with visible light
• Single-molecule visualization and measurement
• Imaging with new light sources

Publications

1. Shingo Kose, Maiko Furuta, and Naoko Imamoto
   Hikeshi, a nuclear import carrier for Hsp70s, protects cells from heat-shock induced nuclear damage
   Cell 149:578-589 (2012)
2. Michiyo Okamoto, Kazuo Kurokawa, Kumi Matsuura-Tokita, Chieko Saito, Ryogo Hirata, and Akihiko Nakano
   High-curvature domains of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are important for the organization of ER exit sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
   J. Cell Sci. 125:3412-3420 (2012)
3. Mitsuhiro Abe, Asami Makino, Francoise Hullin-Matsuda, Keiju Kamijo, Yoshiko Ohno-Iwashita, Kentaro Hanada, Hideaki Mizuno, Atsushi Miyawaki, and Toshihide Kobayashi
   A role for sphingomyelin-rich lipid domains in the accumulation of PIP2 to the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis
   Mol. Cell Biol. 32:1396-1407 (2012)
4. Yoshinori Nishino, Mikhail Eltsov, Yasumasa Joti, Kazuki Ito, Hideaki Takata, Yukio Takahashi, Saera Hihara, Achilleas S. Frangakis, Naoko Imamoto, Tetsuya Ishikawa, and Kazuhiro Maeshima
   Human mitotic chromosomes consist predominantly of irregularly folded nucleosome fibres without a 30-nm chromatin structure
   EMBO J. 31:1644-1653 (2012)
5. Yasushi Sako, Michio Hiroshima, Chang-Gi Pack, Kenji Okamoto, Kayo Hibino, and Akihiro Yamamoto
   Live cell single-molecule detection in systems biology
   WIREs Systems Biology and Medicine 4:183-192 (2011)
6. Kazuo Ebine, Masaru Fujimoto, Yusuke Okatani, Tomoaki Nishiyama, Tatsuaki Goh, Emi Ito, Tomoko Dainobu, Aiko Nishitani, Tomohiro Uemura, Masa H. Sato, Hans Thordal-Christensen, Nobuhiro Tsutsumi, Akihiko Nakano, and Takashi Ueda
   A membrane trafficking pathway regulated by the plant-specific RAB GTPase ARA6
   Nat. Cell Biol. 13:853-859 (2011)
7. Hideaki Mizuno, Mitsuhiro Abe, Peter Dedecker, Asami Makino, Suzan Rocha, Yoshiko Ohno-Iwashita, Johan Hofkens, Toshihide Kobayashi and Atsushi Miyawaki
   Fluorescent probes for superresolution imaging of lipid domains on the plasma membrane
   Chem. Sci. 2:1548-1553 (2011)
8. Kayo Hibino, Tatsuo Shibata, Toshio Yanagida, and Yasushi Sako
   Single-molecule kinetic analysis of RAF activation in the ternary complex among RAF, RasGTP, and the kinases on the plasma membrane of living cells
   J. Biol. Chem. 286:36460-36468 (2011)
9. Funakoshi, T., Clever, M., Watanabe, A., Imamoto, N.
   Localization of Pom121 to the inner nuclear membrane is required for an early step of interphase NPC assembly
   Mol. Biol. Cell. 7: 1058-1069 (2011)
10. Masakazu Iwai, Kenji Takizawa, Ryutaro Tokutsu, Akira Okamuro, Yuichiro Takahashi, and Jun Minagawa
    Isolation of the elusive supercomplex that drives cyclic electron flow in photosynthesis
    Nature 464:1210-1213 (2010).