Date

Tuesday, November 17, 2026 - 11:20 to 12:00

November 17, 2026 (Tuesday)
11:20 to 12:00

Prof. Wonhwa Cho

Venue: C700, Lab 3
Contact: OIST Membrane Cooperativity Unit, Aki Kusumi
Visit: https://www.oist.jp/mcu
e-mail: akihiro.kusumi<at>oist.jp

Date

Tuesday, November 17, 2026 - 10:40 to 11:20

November 17, 2026 (Tuesday)
10:40 to 11:20

Prof. Roland Wedlich-Söldner

Venue: C700, Lab 3
Contact: OIST Membrane Cooperativity Unit, Aki Kusumi
Visit: https://www.oist.jp/mcu
e-mail: akihiro.kusumi<at>oist.jp

Date

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - 10:00 to 11:00

Dr Nicola J. Fairbairn, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo & University of Glasgow, UK

Date

Tuesday, November 17, 2026 - 10:00 to 10:40

November 17, 2026 (Tuesday)
10:00 to 10:40

Prof. Jacob Piehler

Venue: C700, Lab 3
Contact: OIST Membrane Cooperativity Unit, Aki Kusumi
Visit: https://www.oist.jp/mcu
e-mail: akihiro.kusumi<at>oist.jp

Date

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 - 11:00 to 12:00

[Seminar] "Making input-specific synaptic changes last: from synaptic tagging mechanisms to cell-adhesion codes" by Dr. Mathieu Letellier, The Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience (IINS), University of Bordeaux

October 27, 2026  11:00-12:00 @B503, Center Bldg.

Date

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 - 15:00 to 16:00

Join Zoom link

Target audience: Interns, Students, PostDocs, and those who are interested in the same research field.
Language: English

Date

Friday, November 6, 2026 - 13:30 to 14:30

Prof. Takashi Ohshima, Professor. Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University. Language: English

Date

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 - 13:30

Language: English

Date

Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 15:00 to 16:00

Title: The Obstruction of Orientability of Real Monopole Floer Homology

Abstract: The Real Seiberg-Witten theory is one of a stong tool in knot theory and surface knot theory. For example, that can detect exotic P^2-knot and Kang-Park-Taniguchi proved that any non trivial cable of figure eight knot is not slice using Real Seiberg-Witten theory. This theory is also provide interesting phenomena in index theory, since Real Seiberg-Witten theory can be seen as a "non-linear version" of Atiya's Real K-theory. For example, there is an obstruction to orient moduli space of Real Seiberg-Witten eqations on closed 4-manifolds. Recently, Bonciocat obtained a obstruction to lift the real Heegaard Floer homology from mod 2 coefficient to Z-coefficient. In this talk, we give a canonical way to obtain Z- coefficient real monopole Floer homology of double branced cover of a link in homology S^3 in the case when the obstruction vanishes. We also proved that the Bonciocat's obstruction is also obstract Z-coefficient in real monopole, however the proof is different. This is joint work with Jiakai Li.

Date

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 - 15:00
 
 
Speaker: Shogo Ozaki,
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University 
 
 
Title: 
Flexibility in Bacterial Replication Origins: Molecular Mechanisms and Evolutionary Implications
 
Abstract:
Chromosomal DNA replication begins at a specific genomic locus, the replication origin (oriC). While the initiator protein DnaA is highly conserved among bacteria, replication origin sequences are remarkably diverse. This raises a fundamental question: how can bacterial replication initiation remain robust despite extensive evolutionary changes in origin architecture?
In this seminar, I will present our studies of DNA replication origins from evolutionarily distant bacteria, including Escherichia coli, the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima, and the alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus. Comparison of these species reveals striking differences in origin architecture, providing a unique opportunity to explore how replication initiation systems evolve while maintaining the same fundamental function. By combining biochemical, genetic, and comparative approaches, we uncovered unexpected flexibility in DnaA-dependent origin function.
Our findings reveal that bacterial replication origins can tolerate variation in the orientation of DnaA-binding sites, the sequence of unwound DNA, and the spacing between essential origin elements. Together, these observations suggest that DnaA-dependent initiation complexes possess intrinsic flexibility that enables replication origins to diversify during evolution while preserving reliable replication initiation. These findings provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms that underlie both the robustness and the evolutionary diversification of bacterial chromosome replication.

 
Reference:
Kiyohara N, Wakasugi Y, Ihara K, Kubaru A, Maruki S, Kojima N, Yoshitomi S, Katayama T, Ozaki S. Origin flexibility governs robust ssDNA engagement by the DnaA initiator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Sep 22;123(38):e2615469123. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2615469123. 
 
Lu C, Yoshida R, Katayama T, Ozaki S. Thermotoga maritima oriC involves a DNA unwinding element with distinct modules and a DnaA-oligomerizing region with a novel directional binding mode. J Biol Chem. 2023 Jul;299(7):104888. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104888. 
 
 
 

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