Laboratory of Embryology

We are interested in every aspect of vertebrate development from early axis formation to late organogenesis, such as somitogenesis, dorsoventral patterning and left-right asymmetry. Somitogenesis in zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been one of our main targets for the last decade. In addition to the zebrafish, we introduced the medaka system to our research in 2000. Medaka (Oryzias latipes) is an emerging model vertebrate complimentary to zebrafish, with advantages of a smaller genome, highly polymorphic inbred strains and a wide range of growth permissive temperatures. As expected from the great evolutionarily distance between medaka and zebrafish (more than 110 million years), we now have medaka developmental mutations with unique phenotypes. Having these two excellent model systems, we are analyzing the mechanisms underlying vertebrate development.

2011/12/04
Tatsuya Tsukahara Ph.D. won the GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists.

2011/01/04
Publication updated

2008/12/04
A medaka LR mutant identifies a novel gene responsible for primary ciliary dyskinesia. H. Omran, D. Kobayashi, H. Olbrich, T. Tsukahara et al., Nature 256, 611-616 (2008). (summary PDF)

2007/06/07
The medaka draft genome has been released. (PDF) Kasahara et al., Nature 447, 714-9. (2007).

2006/06/08
The segmenatation clock behaves as coupled oscillators. Horikawa et al., Nature 441, 719-23. (2006).