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RIKEN BioResource Research Center (BRC®) Gene Engineering Division (RIKEN BRC Gene Bank)

Director: Yoshihiro Miwa (Ph.D.)

Research Summary

 Yoshihiro Miwa (Ph.D.)

Genetic materials such as plasmids, clone sets of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), recombinant adenoviruses, expression vectors, and host bacteria are the most fundamental and essential research tools. They are used in the almost all fields of the life science, from basic researches to innovations. The Gene Engineering Division collects, conducts strict quality control of genetic materials and provides domestic and international scientific community with the materials of ensured reproducibility of experimental results. We aim to facilitate life science researches and innovations for improvement of human welfare and for solution of environmental problems and hope to contribute to the sustainable development of our race. Since 2002, the Division has been selected as a core facility of DNA materials by National BioResource Project (NBRP) funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan for collection, quality control, preservation and distribution of genetic materials of human, animal and microbe origin.

Research Subjects:

  • Collection, preservation and distribution of genetic materials (DNA and cDNA).
  • Development of handling and preservation technique.
  • Development of quality control technique.
  • Development of application method of recombinant virus and its quality control.
  • Development of technology for medical sciences, biomass engineering and innovation.

Selected Publications

  • 1. Kulathunga, K., Wakimoto, A., Hiraishi, Y., Yadav, MK., Gentleman, K., Warabi, E., Sakasai, T., Miwa, Y., Mizuno, S., Takahashi, S., Hamada, M.:
    "Albino mice with the point mutation at the tyrosinase locus show high cholesterol diet-induced NASH susceptibility."
    SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 11:21827 doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-00501-5 (2021).
  • 2. Mizuno-Iijima, S., Ayabe, S., Kato, K., Matoba, S., Ikeda, Y., Dinh, TTH., Le, HT., Suzuki, H., Nakashima, K., Hasegawa, Y., Hamada, Y., Tanimoto, Y., Daitoku, Y., Iki, N., Ishida, M., Ibrahim, EAE., Nakashiba, T., Hamada, M., Murata, K., Miwa, Y., Okada-Iwabu, M., Iwabu, M., Yagami, K., Ogura, A., Obata, Y., Takahashi, S., Mizuno, S., Yoshiki, A., Sugiyama, F.:
    "Efficient production of large deletion and gene fragment knock-in mice mediated by genome editing with Cas9-mouse Cdt1 in mouse zygotes."
    Methods S1046-2023(19)30328-7 doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2020.04.007 (2020).
  • 3. Ayabe, S., Nakashima, K., Yoshiki, A.:
    "Off- and on-target effects of genome editing in mouse embryos."
    J Reprod Dev 65 1-5 (2019).
  • 4. Kurihara, C., Nakade, K., Pan, J., Huang, J., Wasylyk, B., Obata, Y.:
    "An easy method for preparation of Cre-loxP regulated fluorescent adenoviral expression vectors and its application for direct reprogramming into hepatocytes"
    Biotechnol Rep Vol.12 26-32 (2016).
  • 5. Kohara, K., Pignatelli, M., Rivest, AJ., Jung, HY., Kitamura, T., Suh, J., Frank, D., Kajikawa, K., Mise, N., Obata, Y., Wickersham, IR., Tonegawa, S.:
    "Cell type-specific genetic and optogenetic tools reveal hippocampal CA2 circuits."
    Nat Neurosci Vol. 17 269-279 (2014).
  • 6. Hasegawa, N., Abei, M., Yokoyama, K., Fukuda, K., Seo, E., Kawashima, R., Nakano, Y., Yamada, T., Nakade, K., Hamada, H., Obata, Y., and Hyodo, I.:
    "Cyclophosphamide enhances antitumor efficacy of oncolytic adenovirus expressing uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) in immunocompetent Syrian hamsters."
    Int. J. Cancer, 133, 1479-1488 (2013).
  • 7. Inagawa, K., Miyamoto, K., Yamakawa, H., Muraoka, N., Sadahiro, T., Umei, T., Wada, R., Katsumata, Y., Kaneda, R., Nakade, K., Kurihara, C., Obata, Y., Miyake, K., Fukuda, K., and Ieda, M.:
    "Induction of cardiomyocyte-like cells in infarct hearts by gene transfer of Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5."
    Circ. Res., 111, 1147-1156 (2012).
  • 8. Masuya, H., Makita, Y., Kobayashi, N., Nishikata, K., Yoshida, Y., Mochizuki, Y., Doi, K., Takatsuki, T., Waki, K., Tanaka, N., Ishii, M., Matsushima, A., Takahashi, S., Hijikata, A., Kozaki, K., Furuichi, T., Kawaji, H., Wakana, S., Nakamura, Y., Yoshiki, A., Murata, T., Fukami, K., Sujatha, M. S., Ohara, O., Hayashizaki, Y., Obata, Y., Toyoda, T.:
    "The RIKEN integrated database of mammals."
    Nuc. Acids Res., 39, D861-D870 (2011).
  • 9. Pan, J., Nakade, K., Huang, Y-C., Zhu, Z-W., Masuzaki, S., Hasegawa, H., Murata, T., Yoshiki, A., Yamaguchi, N., Lee, C-H., Yang, W-C., Tsai, E-M., Obata, Y., and Yokoyama, K.:
    "Suppression of cell-cycle progression by Jun dimerization protein-2 (JDP2) involves downregulation of cyclin-A2."
    Oncogene, 29, 6245-6256 (2010).
  • 10. Nakade, K., Pan, J., Yamasaki, T., Murata, T., Wasylyk, B. and Yokoyama, K.:
    "JDP2 (Jun dimerization protein 2)-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts are resistant to replicative senescence."
    J. Biol. Chem., 284, 10808-10817 (2009).

Related Links

Lab Members

Principal investigator

Yoshihiro Miwa
Director

Core members

Takehide Murata
Senior Research Scientist
Tetsushi Iida
Research Scientist
Shotaro Kishikawa
Technical Scientist
Shingo Nozaki
Research & Development Scientist
Yukari Kujime
Technical Staff II
Chitose Kurihara
Technical Staff II
Megumi Sakayori
Technical Staff II
Nobuatsu Nakamura
Technical Staff II
Kenichi Nakashima
Technical Staff II
Syunichi Sasanuma
Technical Staff II
Junko Kijima
Technical Staff II

Contact Information

3-1-1 Koyadai
Tsukuba, Ibaraki
305-0074 Japan
Email: dnabank.brc [at] riken.jp

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