2025
26 August, 2025
BDR Summer School
BDR summer internship program for undergraduate students was held from August 18-22. Kitajima Lab welcomed 3 students. They had the opportunity to carry out experiments using live-imaging of mouse oocytes and presented their results to the other internship participants.
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25 August, 2025
Spatial challenges of chromosomes in eggs
Chromosome segregation requires spindle bipolarization and chromosome biorientation. In this paper, using mouse oocytes as a model, we show that the haploinsufficiency of the antiparallel microtubule motor KIF11 causes incomplete spindle bipolarization. Chromosomes in the outer region of the metaphase plate require more KIF11 to achieve biorientation. This study may contribute to the understanding and prediction of infertility.
Mishina T, Courtois A, Yoshida S, Asai K, Kiyonari H, Kitajima TS, "Kif11-haploinsufficient oocytes reveal spatially differential requirements for chromosome biorientation", EMBO Reports, doi: 10.1038/s44319-025-00539-w
・Pubmed
・EMBO Reports
30 July, 2025
Cell Division Workshop 2025
Miho Sakuma attended Cell Division Workshop 2025 held in Mishima from 24 to 25 July, 2025 and gave a poster presentation.
24 July, 2025
Joint Meeting of JSCB and JSDB
Tomoya Kitajima and Shuhei Yoshida attended Joint Meeting of JSCB 77th and JSDB 58th held in Nagoya from 16 to 18 July, 2025 and gave oral presentations.
24 July, 2025
Summer School on Genome Stability 2025
Miho Sakuma attended Summer School on Genome Stability 2025 held in Montpellier, France from 15 to 19 July, 2025 and gave an oral presentation.
24 July, 2025
Early-Career Scientists’ Meeting with International Advisors
Tomoya Kitajima, So Shimamoto, Manami Koshiguchi, Remi Kanemura and Miho Sakuma attended Early-Career Scientists’ Meeting with International Advisors of Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas（A) Dynamic Reproductive Lifespan held in Tokyo on 12 July, 2025 and presented their researches.
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24 July, 2025
The 53rd Naito Conference
Tomoya Kitajima and So Shimamoto attended the 53rd Naito Conference "Germ Cell Biology: Uncovering Mysteries of Continuity and Discontinuity" held in Sapporo from 8 to 11 July, 2025 and presented their researches.
10 July, 2025
EMBO Workshop
Tomoya Kitajima was invited to present our research at EMBO Workshop Meiosis: Exploring Diversity to Discover the Fundamentals held in Engelberg, Switzerland from 22 to 26 June, 2025.
23 June, 2025
Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Epigenetics
Tomoya Kitajima was invited to present our research at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Epigenetics held in Fukui from 19 to 20 June, 2025.
17 June, 2025
NTU-KU-UT Joint International Mini Symposium 2025
Miho Sakuma attended the NTU-KU-UT Joint International Mini Symposium 2025 held in Taipei, Taiwan on 14 June, 2025 and gave an oral presentation.
12 June, 2025
Annual Conference of the International Society for Reproductive Genetics (ISRG)
Tomoya Kitajima was invited to present our research at The 2025 Annual Conference of the International Society for Reproductive Genetics (ISRG) held in Changsha, China from 6 to 8 June, 2025.
5 June, 2025
Kinetochores regulate timely spindle bipolarization for correct chromosome segregation in mouse oocytes
Spindle bipolarization and kinetochore-microtubule attachments are critical for chromosome segregation. We found that the MPS1 kinase regulates spindle bipolarization during meiosis I in mouse oocytes. The MPS1 kinase promotes spindle bipolarization prior to stabilization of kinetochore-microtubule attachment. Timely spindle bipolarization, which is regulated by kinetochores, suppresses the formation of incorrect kinetochore-microtubule attachments during meiosis I in mouse oocytes.
Yoshida S, Nakagawa R, Asai K, Kitajima TS, "MPS1 promotes timely spindle bipolarization to prevent kinetochore-microtubule attachment errors in oocytes", The EMBO Journal, doi: 10.1038/s44318-025-00461-w
・Pubmed
・The EMBO Journal
5 June, 2025
A new paper from a collaborative research
A new paper from a collaborative research with Dr. Miyamoto (Kyushu University) has been published.
Takasu A, Hino T, Takenouchi O, Miyagawa Y, Liang Z, Tanaka S, Mimura T, Ida C, Matsuo Y, Lee Y, Ikegami H, Ohsugi M, Matoba S, Ogura A, Yamagata K, Matsumoto K, Kitajima TS, Miyamoto K, "Characterization of H3K4me3 in mouse oocytes at the metaphase II stages", Journal of Biological Chemistry, doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110308
・Pubmed
・Journal of Biological Chemistry
28 May, 2025
Lab Excursion
We went on a lab excursion to "Nesta Resort Kobe" to welcome new student trainees Ichihara-san and Tantry-san and to celebrate the RIKEN Eiho Awards!
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28 May, 2025
IFFS World Congress 2025
Tomoya Kitajima was invited to present our research at IFFS World Congress 2025 held in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo from 26 to 29 April, 2025.。
9 April, 2025
New members joined
Emiko Ichihara and Angela Jennifer Tantry (Student Trainees) joined our lab in April.
3 April, 2025
Visit to NCBS
Hirohisa Kyogoku visited NCBS (The National Centre for Biological Sciences) in Bengaluru, India from March 10-13 and gave an oral presentation.
24 March, 2025
RIKEN EIHO Award (RIKEN Significant Achievement Award)
Two RIKEN EIHO Awards (RIKEN Excellent Achievement Awards) were won by our lab. They are given to celebrate personnel who have made significant research or other achievements. Congratulations!!
①Tomoya Kitajima, Osamu Takenouchi, Kohei Asai, Yuanzhuo Zhou and Yogo Sakakibara "Identification of spatiotemporal pathway to chromosome errors in oocytes and development of its manipulation strategy"
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②Tomoya Kitajima and Hirohisa Kyogoku "Discovery of a unique genome DNA replication pattern during early mouse embryogenesis and chromosome instability during its transition"
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24 March, 2025
Doctoral Degree
Kohei Asai received his Doctoral Degree in Life Sciences at Kyoto University Degree Conferment Ceremony. Congratulations!!
・Kyoto University News
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4 February, 2024
Chromosome Workshop 2025
Shuhei Yoshida attended the 42nd Chromosome Workshop the 23rd Nuclear Dynamics Meeting held in Hayami from 29 to 31 January, 2025 and gave a poster presentation.
20 January, 2025
BDR Times
The cover of BDR Times features microscopic reconstructed images by Kohei Asai.
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Upcoming Events
28 August - 29 August, 2025
The 43rd Congress of Japan Society of Fertilization and Implantation
Nagoya, JAPAN
15 September - 17 September, 2025
The 118th SRD Meeting
Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
3 November - 5 November, 2025
The 98th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Biochemical Society
Kyoto, JAPAN
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