At each moment from birth to death, the life of a multicellular organism is governed by an amazing orchestration of “biological signals”. Elucidation of intercellular and intracellular signaling networks is the key to understand the development and functions of organisms, yet it requires multidisciplinary approaches due to the complexities of the systems. The 21st century COE program “Biological Signals” tackles fundamental questions in biology by integrating various approaches based on the close collaboration and interaction between the laboratories. This program particularly aims at encouraging young researchers to be creative and independent.
The outline of the framework and activities of this program is as illustrated. The research field covers a wide range of signaling mechanisms regarding cell function, cell differentiation, synaptic function, neuronal network and brain function. This program has already given significant contributions in the following issues; (1) molecular mechanisms regulating synaptic strength, (2) identification of cerebral cortical neurons involved in memory formation and retrieval, (3) molecular mechanism of motor proteins mediating axonal transport, (4) molecular mechanisms underlying olfactory processing, (5) cytokine signaling and (6) cell death regulation. New methods developed in this program include (1) real-time imaging for the second messenger IP3, (2) cell-type-specific genetic manipulation in Zebra fish, and (3) RNAi library. These findings have been reported in journals such as Science, Nature, Cell, Neuron, PNAS and EMBO J, and attracting a wide readership among cell biologists and neuroscientists.
|
|
