[Dual Biological Potentials] Multiscale and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigate Mechanisms of Resilience and Diversification across Wide Ranges of Spatiotemporal Metrics

Strategic Objective

Measuring resilience of life - Discovery and exploration of unknown biological response mechanisms

Research Supervisor

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Tadashi Uemura(Professor, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University)

Overview

 The focus of this research area is on the dual nature of organisms’ responses, resilience and diversification, across a wide range of spatiotemporal metrics, with the aim of elucidating and eventually controlling their underlying mechanisms through the optimization and development of multiscale and cross-disciplinary techniques.
 Biological phenomena occur across a large range of spatial scales, from molecules to tissues, individuals, and populations; they are also variable with regard to temporal scales, as represented by fast chemical reactions in cells or the lifespan of individuals, extending to transgenerational effects. Within this vast spatiotemporal world, although organisms respond to external stimuli over time, they resist or recover from such perturbations (resilience). They may also chance to attain a distinct, stable state that differs from the original state (diversification). Collectively, these organisms’ responses are considered as biological potentials in this research area.
 In order to elucidate the mechanisms of resilience and diversification, it is critical to clarify the causal relationships among biological phenomena across large spatiotemporal scales. Therefore, it is necessary to construct appropriate quantitative methods by combining and/or optimizing existing techniques or even developing new ones, depending on the modality of information to be obtained and the amount of data to be collected. Currently, the recent advancement of omics and other technologies has made it possible to acquire large amounts of complex data at individual coordinate points in space and time. Thus, informatics approaches will be indispensable to leverage individual as well as multiple data sets to comprehend their biological significance.
 By cycling measurements, data analysis, hypothesis formulation, and verification, this research area aims at elucidating the mechanisms that shape biological potentials in various contexts. Moreover, this research area will uncover previously overlooked biological potentials.

Research Area Advisors

Toshifumi Inada Professor, Division of RNA and gene regulation, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
Hiroshi Kawasaki Professor, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University
Kaori Shiojiri Professor, Agriculture, Ryukoku University
Kentaro Shimizu Director, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich/Guest Professor, Kihara Institute for Biological Studies, Yokohama City University
Yoichi Shinkai Chief Scientist, CPR, RIKEN
Yasukazu Nakamura Professor, Department of Informatics, National Institute of Genetics
Nobuhiko Nomura Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences , University of Tsukuba
Yu Hayashi Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo
Fumio Matsuda Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University
Yoshihiro Morishita Team Leader, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research

Research Projects

  1. Year Started : 2024

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