Lipids decoding the mysteries of
life & disease

Phosphoinositides and intractable diseases

Phosphoinositides are trace phospholipids that regulate signal transduction and membrane dynamics inside and outside the cell. Using genetically modified mice for some 50 phosphoinositide-metabolizing enzymes, we elucidate how intractable diseases such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases arise and progress.

Combining mass spectrometry data with AI and machine learning, we search for unknown lipid molecules that change in disease. We identify the enzymes that produce and degrade them and elucidate their physiological functions and mechanisms of action.

Lipids are distributed not only in the plasma membrane but also in organelles, the cytosol, and the extracellular environment, where they control biological processes. We elucidate how lipid localization is controlled and how lipid information is read out and converted into cellular responses.

We develop deep mass spectrometry techniques for phospholipids and apply them to clinical specimens of human disease. By analyzing lipid changes associated with disease, genetic abnormalities, lifestyle, and aging, we develop stratification markers.

We clarify how age-related changes in phosphoinositide metabolism contribute to aging and age-related diseases. Combining genetic analysis with our original lipid-measurement technology, we aim to elucidate the lipid-metabolic mechanisms that control aging and to develop new interventions.