Hiroshi Nakato
University of Minnesota, MN·Genetics
Cells in the body must talk to each other to control growth, form tissues and repair damage. When this signaling fails, organs can grow to the wrong size, or stem cells can keep dividing and form tumors.
- Fields
Genetics
Biology
Biochemistry
- Topics
Drosophila
fruit fly
intestinal stem cells
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jun 2030
What they work on
- Determine how septate junction components, which seal neighboring gut cells together, help end regeneration in the Drosophila midgut after intestinal stem cells repair damage.
- Define how the extracellular matrix receptors Syndecan and Dystroglycan, which are targets of dMOV10-guided microRNA silencing, remodel the extracellular matrix as midgut regeneration ends.
- Map the global network of genes controlled by microRNAs through the dMOV10-containing silencing complex during the end stage of midgut regeneration.
- Test how HSPG partners identified by proteomics and genetics, including glypican-binding proteins, transmembrane proteins and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, control morphogen signaling and stem cells.
- Link specific heparan sulfate sugar-chain structures to signaling and patterning outcomes, using an in vitro system of Drosophila cell lines.
- Define how heparan sulfate helps the activins Actβ, Dawdle and Myoglianin travel between organs and signal, regulating body size, sugar balance, metabolism and pH.
More about the research
Both projects use the fruit fly Drosophila, which offers powerful genetic tools, to study how tissues control cell signaling and stem cells. The first project asks how a damaged gut knows when to stop regenerating. The second asks how sugar-coated proteins on cell surfaces shape growth factor signals. Syndecan, one of these proteins, appears in both projects.
Why it matters
If regeneration does not stop properly, unwanted cells can build up, organs can grow to abnormal sizes and cancer risk rises. Knowing how stem cells are switched off after repair could point to ways to lower these risks. Understanding how heparan sulfate co-receptors tune growth factor and inter-organ signals adds basic knowledge about development and could eventually inform studies of body size, sugar balance and metabolism.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jin Jiang
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Biology
Determine how different levels or durations of Hedgehog signal produce different outcomes inside cells, combining genetics, biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology in Drosophila and mammalian cells.
Larisa Litovchick
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Pharmacology
Test whether high levels of chondroitin-4-sulfate (C4S), a sulfated sugar chain on tumor cells, contribute to platinum resistance in ovarian cancer, using mouse tumor models.
Linda C Hsieh-Wilson
California Institute of Technology, CA·Chemistry
Map glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the hypothalamus and disrupt them in animal models to test effects on food intake, body weight and blood sugar control.
The school
University of Minnesota: 88 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 722 research doctorates a year.
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