Vol.17 – 2024 Winter
Mysterious stone circle?
These images show the behavior of chromosomes (purple) and artificial kinetochore beads (green) within the cell during metaphase, when they align on the same plane.
Laboratory for Bottom-up Cell Biology
This time we hear from Dr. Makito Miyazaki, team leader of the Laboratory for Bottom-up Cell Biology, about his research and laboratory. The laboratory was established at the BDR in April 2023.
Measuring Various Things with Mass Spectrometers
Dr. Hina Kosakamoto from whom I learned about nutrition research using fruit flies, introduced me to my next interviewee, Dr. Keiko Masuda. Dr. Masuda is an expert in mass spectrometry. Through this interview series, I’ve heard a lot about genes and cells, but this is the first time mass spectrometry has come up.
What’s Important for Experimental Automation?
This time I talked to Dr. Atsushi Shibai, who works in a laboratory that researches experimental evolution and experimental automation. I previously talked to Dr. Uchida from the same laboratory about her research using medaka fish, but I heard that Dr. Shibai is more of an engineer-minded person…
Vol.16 – 2024 Summer
A car navigation screen?
This is a simulation model of the network of chemical reactions (metabolic pathways) occurring within the cell visualized in a virtual reality platform. The metaverse platform allows multiple researchers to analyze and build models collaboratively within a virtual space.
Human Biomimetic System RIKEN Hakubi Research Team
This time we hear from RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader Masaya Hagiwara, who leads the Human Biomimetic System RIKEN Hakubi Research Team that joined the RIKEN BDR in April 2023, about his laboratory.
4K 1 GHz NMR Spectrometer
West NMR Complex, Yokohama Campus
The NMR spectrometer uses nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon to study the structure of molecules. A strong static magnetic field of 23.5 Tesla is applied to the center of the cylinder by a superconducting magnet cooled to -269℃.
Vol.15 – 2024 Spring
Put the blocks through the holes…
This is an experiment showing the technology allowing scientists to build 3D structures of actin, a protein acting as the cell skeleton. When various subcellular-sized shapes (pink) were drawn on a sheet mimicking the cell membrane (blue), actin (green) was self-assembled into pillars with maintaining the drawn shapes.
The Desire to Explain Nutrition Properly
Dr. Chika Takahashi who talked about her research using the short-lived killifish, introduced me to Dr. Hina Kosakamoto, who works with the fruit fly. As the name of the lab she works in includes the words ‘nutritional biology,’ I went to the interview hoping that I would be able to learn something that might be useful for dieting.
Kobe Bridge and Portopia Bridge
Chuo Ward, Kobe
Kobe’s city center of Sannomiya is connected to the man-made Port Island by two bridges and one undersea tunnel. This photo of the illuminated Kobe Bridge was taken from the Port Island side.
A new model organism for lifespan research
This time, I sat down to talk to Dr. Chika Takahashi in the Laboratory for Molecular Biology of Aging, the same lab as Dr. Uno, who I previously interviewed about his research on lifespan using C. elegans. The theme this time also seems to be related to lifespan but I heard that she is using […]
Vol.14 – 2023 Autumn
Rain clouds detected by radar?
This is an image of proteins regulating genes in the cell nucleus. In an effort to reveal the behavior of genes in the nucleus of ES cells in two different states, the proteins, which are moving too rapidly to be captured by a camera, are manipulated to fluoresce the moment it binds to DNA.
High-end 300kV cryo-electron microscope
Central NMR Complex, Yokohama Campus
The three cryo-electron microscopes (cryo-EMs) housed in the Central NMR Complex, aligned in a row. On the far right with its enclosure doors open is the latest, state-of-the-art cryo-EM that is equipped with an electron emission gun with an acceleration voltage of up to 300kV.
Vol.13 – Summer 2023
A six-winged pinwheel?
This is the transcription termination factor Rho. It is a ring-shaped structure consisting of a hexamer that forms a tunnel in the center for the RNA (magenta) to pass through. When Rho attaches to the RNA polymerase (white and gray) during transcription, it uses this tunnel to pull the RNA out and terminate transcription at the appropriate time.
A physicist contemplating the origins of living things
Dr. Yousuke Ohno, who I previously interviewed about MDGRAPE, had told me that he had been intrigued by a recent Japanese press release suggesting that amino acids could be generated even without nitrogen, so I went straight to the horse’s mouth and talked to Dr. Tomonori Fukuchi who was involved in that study. I was […]
View from the eighth floor of the Integrated Innovation Building
Kobe Campus
The sunrise over Osaka Bay viewed from the east side of the top floor of the RIKEN Integrated Innovation Building (IIB), which is located on Port Island, an artificial island. Silhouettes of the gantry cranes along the wharf emerging in the morning sun.
Taking on the world with a unique computer
This time we have Dr. Yousuke Ohno, who works on the design of MDGRAPE, a computer specialized for running molecular dynamics simulations. If you really think about it, the development of MDGRAPE has been going on since before 1990, which was around the time when Windows 3.1 was finally released. Looking back now, isn’t it […]
RIKEN Kids Yokohama
Yokohama Campus
A childcare facility situated on RIKEN premises specifically for use by RIKEN employees. Both research and administrative staff are eligible to use the childcare services.
Laboratory for Nutritional Biology
Team Leader Fumiaki Obata joined RIKEN BDR in April 2021 from his former post at The University of Tokyo to lead the new Laboratory for Nutritional Biology. He first began working with fruit flies,
View from the seventh floor of the Developmental Biology Building
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge connects the Honshu mainland (right) to Awaji Island (left) and is located across the sea approximately 18 km away from the Kobe Campus. At 3,911 meters long, it is the second longest suspension bridge in the world. The cape in the foreground extending from the right is where the ancient port of Kobe, Owada no tomari, is said to have been located.
Vol.10 – Spring 2022
A growing baby corn?
This is an electron microscope image of an olfactory sensillum found on the head of a fruit fly. Nanometer-sized odorant molecules can pass through tiny pore on the sensillum surface to stimulate the nerves inside for detecting odors. In contrast, micrometer-sized dust and virus particles are prevented from entering the body because they cannot pass through the pores.
Computational Work to See the Structure of DNA
I had an opportunity to casually chat with him the other day about much broader topics including politics, religion and education. But, I wondered how this interview would go…