Regulation of Polarity Signaling during Morphogenesis, Remodeling, and Breakdown of Epithelial Tubule Structure [Tubulology]

Epithelial tubular tissues are essential structures of many organs, including lung, gut, kidney, exocrine glands, in multi-cellular organisms. The molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of cellular functions in an individual cell has been so far clarified. In the next decade the understanding of how cells form tissues or organs is one of the important issues in life science field. Moreover, research of diseases from the viewpoint of disruption of epithelial tubular tissues would contribute to solve various problems in medical science field.

The goal of our research group focusing on “Regulation of Polarity Signaling during Morphogenesis, Remodeling, and Breakdown of Epithelial Tubule Structure” is to clarify the molecular mechanism by which epithelial cells form tubular structures and to obtain profound understanding of the pathogenesis of diseases based on the disruption of epithelial cell polarity through collaboration with researchers in various biological fields. In the near future we would like to develop new academic field “Tubulology” based on the progress of our research.