Assistant Professor
KASAHARA, Atsuko
[Research goals]
Mitochondria are pleiotropic regulators in metabolic pathways,
calcium and redox homeostasis, and apoptosis. These diverse
mitochondrial functions are reflected by their extremely dynamic
morphology and distribution in the cells. Mitochondrial quality,
distribution, size, and motility are excellently tuned by their
continuous fusion and fission. Stem cells are special cell population
with self-renewal and differentiation potentials. Healthy stem cells
contribute to tissue maintenance and repair, while tumour stem-like
cells commit tumour malignancy, such as recurrence, drug
resistance, and metastasis.
We are focusing on mitochondrial dynamics in stemness maintenance
as well as differentiation of healthy, and tumour cells.
3D-reconstructed mitochondrial shape in glioma differentiated and stem-like cells (Modified from Bossay EY, et al EMBO journal 2017)