セミナー

スポーツは今、アナリティクスによって大きな変革を遂げています。本講演では、バスケットボールを題材に、実際にアナリティクスが競技に与えた影響やその活用事例を紹介します。さらに、ゼロからスポーツアナリストとしてキャリアを築いた自身の経験をもとに、アナリストに求められるスキルや思考法についても考察します。データを通じてスポーツの「見えない構造」を読み解く面白さを体感できる内容です。 　

DNAオリガミは自在なナノ構造設計を可能にしましたが、タンパク質でも同様のことは可能でしょうか？　本セミナーでは、深層学習によりこれを実現しようとする「Protein Origami」という技術を紹介します。ナノスケールでの精密な配置制御と、任意の構造形成を可能にする新しいタンパク質設計基盤について議論します。

Plants survive in a world where their pathogens can evolve much faster—but plants don’t play fair when the odds are against them. Instead, plants hide and shift the evolutionary goals of their pathogens. In terms of network properties, the plant immune signaling network is built with multiple backup mechanisms that effectively obscure its core functions, making it harder for pathogens to target. In terms of dynamics, plants can activate immune responses ahead of pathogen spread—although many pathogens appear to have already figured this out. While a one-gene-versus-one-gene race would be a losing battle, plants coordinate the evolution of homologous but not-too-similar genes to constantly move the goalposts for their enemies. In some cases, plants have evolved entirely new ways to synthesize a key immune hormone. It is fortunate for us humans that plants have evolved such creative strategies to stay in this world so that we can enjoy them (in many ways!).

ナノスケールの分子が細胞内の空間をどのように認識して働くのか。この根本的な問いに対し、C. elegans受精卵における核の中央移動現象をモデルに、微小管を介した力学的メカニズムの検証を行ってきました。本講演では、最近開発した力の定量測定法によって得られた知見をもとに、細胞内での距離認識の仕組みについて考察します。

詳しくはこちら

Daniel R. Buchholz　(Professor)
　Two main corticosteroids are present in tadpoles during development, the glucocorticoid corticosterone (CORT) and the mineralocorticoid aldosterone (ALDO). Exogenous CORT and ALDO enhance TH signaling required for metamorphosis by altering deiodinase activity, expression of TH receptors, and transcription of TH-regulated genes. The impact of this increased TH signaling by corticosteroids on normal development is complex and not well characterized. We used RNA-seq and CRISPR knockout technology in frogs to examine the importance of corticosteroids in the regulation of development. Impairment of CORT signaling via knockout of adrenocorticotropin or glucocorticoid receptor is lethal in frogs. Surprisingly, exogenous TH rescues from death in mutant frogs lacking CORT signaling, indicating that sufficient TH signaling via enhancement by CORT is required for metamorphosis. Knockout of mineralocorticoid receptor is not known to affect transcription or development in tadpoles. The interpretation that the sole role of CORT is to increase tissue TH sensitivity is complicated by RNA-seq data showing antagonistic effects on gene expression by TH and CORT that are in apparent contrast to the exclusively synergistic effects of TH and CORT on morphological development. Control of development by corticosteroids is not well conserved among vertebrates.

Yun-Bo Shi　(Principal Investigator)
　Thyroid hormone (T3) plays important roles in regulating vertebrate development and pathogenesis. We have been studying T3-dependent Xenopus metamorphosis as a model to investigate the function of T3 and its underlying molecular mechanisms during postembryonic vertebrate development, a period around birth in human when plasma T3 level also peaks. T3 exerts its metamorphic effects through T3 receptors (TRs), which are sequence-specific DNA binding transcription factors. We have previously proposed a dual function model for TRs during Xenopus development. That is, unliganded TRs represses T3-inducible genes during premetamorphosis to prevent premature metamorphosis while liganded TR is required for metamorphic transformation of a tadpole to a frog when T3 is present. I will present some of our studies to show that knockout of both TRa and TRb genes, the only TR genes in all vertebrates, leads to premature metamorphosis but reduces the rate of metamorphic progression once metamorphosis begins, indicating that TR controls metamorphic timing and the rate of metamorphosis in the unliganded and liganded state, respectively. Individual TR gene knockouts have distinct organ- and developmental stage-dependent effects. TR double knockout leads to tadpole lethality at the metamorphic climax and prevents the loss of tail regeneration capacity at the metamorphic climax. Mechanistically, the receptor-subtype specific roles of TRa and TRb are largely, if not all, dictated by their distinct temporal expression levels in different organs, which in turn, determine their target binding in the organs to mediate the developmental effects of T3.