RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics Live Cell Super-Resolution Imaging Reseach Team
Team Leader: Akihiko Nakano (D.Sci.)
Research Summary

Light is a cutting-edge tool for life science research. Development of useful fluorescent probes and the advancement of light microscope technologies have brought us a new world of “live” imaging within a cell. We are developing super-resolution confocal live imaging microscopy (SCLIM) by the combination of a high-speed confocal scanner and a high-sensitivity camera system. With this method we will observe membrane trafficking and organellar dynamics in living cells at high-speed and super-resolution (4D) and elucidate underlining molecular mechanisms. We will also try to extend this technology to medical and pharmacological applications.
Main Research Fields
- Biological Sciences
Related Research Fields
- Complex Systems
- Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering
- Biology
Keywords
- membrane traffic
- vesicular transport
- super-resolution live imaging
- confocal microscopy
- organelles
Selected Publications
- 1.Yoko Ito, Kiminori Toyooka, Masaru Fujimoto, Takashi Ueda, Tomohiro Uemura, and Akihiko Nakano:
"The trans-Golgi network and the Golgi stacks behave independently during regeneration after Brefeldin A treatment in tobacco BY-2 cells"
Plant Cell Physiol. 58:811-821 (2017). - 2.Midori Ishii, Yasuyuki Suda, Kazuo Kurokawa, and Akihiko Nakano:
"COPI is essential for Golgi cisternal maturation and dynamics"
J. Cell Sci. 129:3251-3261 (2016). - 3.Kazuo Kurokawa, Yasuyuku Suda and Akihiko Nakano:
"Sar1 localizes at the rims of COPII-coated membranes in vivo"
J. Cell Sci. 129:3231-3237 (2016). - 4.Masakazu Iwai, Makio Yokono, Kazuo Kurokawa, Akira Ichihara, and Akihiko Nakano:
"Live-cell visualization of excitation energy dynamics in chloroplast thylakoid structures"
Sci. Rep. 6:29940 (2016). - 5.Kazuo Kurokawa, Michiyo Okamoto, and Akihiko Nakano:
"Contact of cis-Golgi with ER exit sites executes cargo capture and delivery from the ER"
Nat. Commun. 5:3653 (2014). - 6.Tomohiro Uemura, Yasuyuki Suda, Takashi Ueda, and Akihiko Nakano:
"Dynamic behavior of the trans-Golgi network in root tissues of Arabidopsis revealed by super-resolution live imaging"
Plant Cell Physiol. 55:694-670 (2014). - 7.Ryogo Hirata, Coh-ichi Nihei, and Akihiko Nakano:
"Isoform-selective oligomer formation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae p24 family proteins"
J. Biol. Chem. 288:37057-37070 (2013). - 8.Yasuyuki Suda, Kazuo Kurokawa, Ryogo Hirata, and Akihiko Nakano:
"Rab GAP cascade regulates dynamics of Ypt6 during the Golgi maturation"
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 110:18976-18981 (2013). - 9.Yoko Ito, Tomohiro Uemura, Keiko Shoda, Masaru Fujimoto, Takashi Ueda, and Akihiko Nakano:
"cis-Golgi proteins accumulate near the ER exit sites and act as the scaffold for Golgi regeneration after brefeldin A treatment in tobacco BY-2 cells"
Mol. Biol. Cell 23:3203-3214 (2012). - 10.Michiyo Okamoto, Kazuo Kurokawa, Kumi Matsuura-Tokita, Chieko Saito, Ryogo Hirata, and Akihiko Nakano:
"High-curvature domains of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are important for the organization of ER exit sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
J. Cell Sci. 125:3412-3420 (2012).
Recent Research Results
Related Links
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Akihiko Nakano
- Team Leader
Core members
- Kazuo Kurokawa
- Senior Research Scientist
- Takuro Tojima
- Research Scientist
- Daisuke Miyashiro
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Tomohiro Uemura
- Visiting Scientist
- Yasuyuki Suda
- Visiting Scientist
- Yoko Ito
- Visiting Scientist
- Yasuhito Kosugi
- Technical Staff I
- Kumiko Ishii
- Technical Staff II
Contact Information
S411 Bioscience Building,
2-1 Hirosawa,
Wako, Saitama
351-0198, Japan
Email: nakano [at] riken.jp