Laboratory of Homeostatic Regulation
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases
ishitani

Professor
Assistant Professor

Tohru ISHITANI
Yuki AKIEDA

Assistant Professor

Masayuki OGINUMA moginuma
Shizuka ISHITANI
shizukai
Kota ABE
kabe

Specially Appointed Assistant Professor
Specially Appointed Assistant Professor

akieda

URL: https://ishitani-lab.biken.osaka-u.ac.jp/
Our bodies are made up of countlesscells, but these cells are not "justpieces" like Lego blocks. Cells
exchange information with neighboring
cells or cells in remote locations, andby integrating and processing various
types of information, they recognize
their position and role in the tissue andperform appropriate functions. Ourlaboratory focuses on this kind ofintercellular communication that
regulates the body and supports tissue
homeostasis, aiming to elucidate
unknown mechanisms of development,
regeneration, aging, and degenerative
diseases, and to develop novel
therapeutic technologies based on suchmechanisms.
New concept of tissue
homeostasis "morphostasis"
Animal tissues have "developmentalrobustness," the ability to overcome
various disturbances during development
and reproduce the same shape. Adult
tissues also maintain the same shapewhile replacing old or damaged cells withnew ones in order to maintain tissue
homeostasis. In our laboratory,
developmental robustness and tissue
homeostasis are collectively referred to as"morphostasis," and our research focuseson the similarities between them.
Specifically, we use zebrafish, a model
animal suitable for both cellular imaging
and gene function analysis, to identify
unknown molecular systems that support
developmental robustness, and analyze
their roles in tissue homeostasis and its
disruption in disease. Through thesestudies, we aim to explore and establish a
new concept of tissue homeostasis byintegrating developmental biology anddisease research.

Individual aging program andits control
Unfortunately, almost all animals,
including humans, are unable toescape this phenomenon and gradually
age and eventually die, as if
programmed to do so. What is themechanism by which senescenceoccurs? Studies using invertebratemodels with short life spans, such as
the nematode worm, have revealed
some aspects of the aging program.
However, invertebrates have bodystructures very different from those ofhumans, making them an inadequatemodel for human aging mechanisms.
On the other hand, mice, a common
model animal, have a long life span
(3-4 years), making it difficult to study
their aging mechanism. Therefore, ourlaboratory is focusing on a fish called
turquoise kirifish. This fish has theshortest lifespan of any captive
vertebrate (3-6 months) and exhibits
aging phenotypes similar to humans(e.g., reduced mobility, fertility, andcognitive function, organ atrophy anddegeneration). Using this fish as amodel, we aim to elucidate theindividual aging program of humansand develop technologies to extend
healthy life spans based on thisprogram.

We want to develop
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discovery that willknock your socks off!
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Research Institute for Microbial Diseases,
Osaka University, 3-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka
565-0871, Japan
TEL&FAX: +81-6-6879-8358
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