Research in the Terada Lab
We are cell biologists and biophysicists who study how the dynamics of cytoskeletal proteins are regulated. We are also interested in the intracellular communications that support cellular functions, especially those of the nervous system. Visualization or live cell imaging is a key to approach our common research interests, and our work spans multiple disciplines or methodologies such as microscopies, spectroscopies, and probe developments. Our lab has focused in three major directions we are taking with several collaborators.
(1) By utilizing newly developed probe technique POLArIS for fluorescence polarization microscopy, we are now focusing on discovering previously unknown phenomena around cytoskeletal structures, and deciphering their functional significance.
We have been collaborating with Dr. Tomomi Tani, microscopist at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole (now at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) on this matter.
(2) We also try to establish effective probes to detect functional intracellular communication to find the logics of neuronal signal transductions.
(3) In addition to live cell imaging, we are interested in development of spectroscopic techniques such as fluorescent correlation spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy.
Regarding Raman spectroscopy, we have a long-standing collaboration with Prof. Kazuhiko Misawa at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.
By combining cutting edge microscopic and spectroscopic technologies with molecular genetics and modelling, we try to solve questions such as: How cytoskeletal dynamics are regulated? How the cell shape is controlled? How the function of the nervous system is maintained?