G0 Cell Unit (Mitsuhiro Yanagida)
Professor Mitsuhiro Yanagida
yanagida at oist.jp
Research outline
Cell growth and multiplication are central problems in biology. Our laboratory is investigating the molecular switch problem: how cells control and execute a cell cycle arrest in the G0 state, and how cell growth and division resume under favorable environmental conditions.
What is G0?
G0 is a cell cycle stage, when cells cease division and remain in a quiescent state.
As most cells of adult human body (brain, muscle, nerve...) are in the G0 phase, it is important to understand how G0 phase is regulated at the molecular level.
Expected outcome of this research
Any essential progress in the basic "Cell growth and arrest" problem has impact on life science and will be welcome by human society. Control of cell growth has many potential application areas in medicine and biotechnology:
- Cancer therapy
- Suppressing abnormal cell multiplication
- Regeneration medicine
- Controlling cell multiplication
- Organ transplant
- Suppressing immune cells
For further information
Please see the Research projects page for the description of our approaches and models in on-going research projects.