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Research

Research

BDR researchers coming from diverse research fields are working together to achieve higher goals.

Seminars & Symposia

Seminars & Symposia

BDR hosts annual symposium and regular seminars inviting international scientists in life science.

Careers & Study

Careers & Study

BDR embraces people from diverse backgrounds, and strives to create an open and supportive setting for research.

Outreach

Outreach

BDR communicates the appeal and significance of our research to society through the use of various media and activities.

News

News

From research, events, people and everything in between, find out what’s going on at RIKEN BDR.

About Us

About Us

Exploring the scientific foundations of life through interdisciplinary approaches to address society’s problems.

Photo of Team leder, Toshio Yanagida

Team Leader
Toshio Yanagida Ph.D.

Laboratory for Cell Dynamics Research

[Closed Mar. 2021]

Clarifying the mystery of life through control of biomolecular assembly and super-resolution imaging

We have been focusing on the development of single-molecule imaging and nano-scale manipulation techniques and their application to the study of biological molecular motors. One of our most important insights on how these motors operate is that they do not filter Brownian noise, instead using this noise to perform robustly. These same techniques have afforded us new understanding on how information is passed intracellularly and how the brain maps a visual stimulus. Noise that is exploited and not filtered we call “yuragi”. Yuragi is exclusive to living organisms, enabling more flexibility and less energy demands for their function. Currently, by collaborating with robotics engineers and information scientists, we are investigating ways to use yuragi in complex information networks such as robots and the internet. By studying yuragi in biological systems and successfully applying yuragi to artificial systems, a better understanding of how biological systems respond efficiently to environmental changes should emerge.

Research Theme

  • Mechano Biology
  • Systems biophysics of heart
  • Super-resolution imaging
  • Variability of genomic structure

Selected Publications

Fujita K, Ohmachi M, Ikezaki K, et al.
Direct visualization of human myosin II force generation using DNA origami-based thick filaments.
Communications Biology 2, 437 (2019).doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0683-0

Fujita K, Iwaki M, Yanagida T.
Transcriptional bursting is intrinsically caused by interplay between RNA polymerases on DNA.
Nature Communications 7. 13788 (2016) doi :10.1038/ncomms13788

Iwaki M, Wickham SF, Ikezaki K, et al.
A programmable DNA origami nanospring that reveals force-induced adjacent binding of myosin VI heads.
Nature Communications 7. 13715 (2016) doi :10.1038/ncomms13715

Iwaki M, Iwane AH, Ikezaki K, Yanagida T.
Local Heat Activation of Single Myosins Based on Optical Trapping of Gold Nanoparticles.
Nano Letters 15(4). 2456-2461 (2015) doi :10.1021/nl5049059

Karagiannis P, Ishii Y, Yanagida T.
Molecular Machines Like Myosin Use Randomness to Behave Predictably.
Chemical Reviews 114(6). 3318-3334 (2014) doi :10.1021/cr400344n

Fujita K, Iwaki M, Iwane AH, et al.
Switching of myosin-V motion between the lever-arm swing and Brownian search-and-catch.
Nature Communications 3. 956 (2012) doi :10.1038/ncomms1934

Fujii T, Iwane AH, Yanagida T, Namba K.
Direct visualization of secondary structures of F-actin by electron cryomicroscopy.
Nature 467(7316). 724-728 (2010) doi :10.1038/nature09372

Nishikawa S, Arimoto I, Ikezaki K, et al.
Switch between Large Hand-Over-Hand and Small Inchworm-like Steps in Myosin VI.
Cell 142(6). 879-888 (2010) doi :10.1016/j.cell.2010.08.033

Iwaki M, Iwane AH, Shimokawa T, et al.
Brownian search-and-catch mechanism for myosin-VI steps.
Nature Chemical Biology 5(6). 403-405 (2009) doi :10.1038/nchembio.171

Inomata K, Ohno A, Tochio H, et al.
High-resolution multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy of proteins in human cells.
Nature 458(7234). 106-109 (2009) doi :10.1038/nature07839

Funatsu T, Harada Y, Tokunaga M, et al.
Imaging of single fluorescent molecules and individual ATP turnovers by single myosin molecules in aqueous-solution.
Nature 374(6522). 555-559 (1995) doi :10.1038/374555a0

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