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Developing new medical treatments that target cellular ploidy
Our research goals
- Aiming to overcome cancer and other diseases by unraveling the mysteries of polyploidy -
Do you know what bananas, potatoes, and strawberries have in common? They are all polyploid organisms with increased ploidy. While polyploids are common in plants, vertebrates are generally diploid organisms. However, there are actually many polyploid cells in the human body. In our laboratory, we are conducting research with the idea that this "polyploidy" may be the key to overcoming various diseases, including cancer. By making full use of our original tools focused on ploidy, we hope to develop research that can only be done in our laboratory.
Many people may not be familiar with the term "polyploidy." Polyploidy refers to the number of chromosome sets in a single cell. Human somatic cells basically have a diploid genome (one set of two chromosomes derived from the father and the mother), while polyploidy refers to a state in which this chromosome set is doubled (tetraploid, octaploid, etc.). Cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, megakaryocytes that produce platelets, and hepatocytes, the main cells that make up the liver, are well known as polyploid cells. Importantly, such polyploid cells are known to increase in cancer and various diseases. Recent reports have shown that nearly 40% of all cancers have undergone polyploidization (= whole genome duplication).
The relationship between cancer and polyploidy was first proposed over 100 years ago. However, just as the polyploidy of bananas and potatoes is not well-known, the presence of polyploidy in diseases has been overlooked for many years. Many basic questions about polyploidy that should be included in textbooks, such as how polyploidy and polyploid cells are controlled, remain a mystery.
Our laboratory aims to elucidate the fundamental mysteries surrounding polyploidy, particularly its significance in disease, and to develop new treatments that target cellular ploidy, thereby advancing new medical treatments for cancer and organ disorders.
For a long time, the field of polyploidy has been left behind quietly, but recently, reports on polyploidy have increased, and this field is now becoming more and more popular. As our laboratory continues to focus on the field of polyploidy, we have developed various unique tools for ploidy research (mouse models that visualize polyploid cells, AI tools to identify polyploid cancers, polyploid cancer cell lines, etc.).
Our laboratory always values "original ideas" and "original perspectives." By making full use of these tools, we hope to develop research that can only be done in our laboratory.
Laboratory of Ploidy Pathology,
Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences,
Osaka University
Matsumoto Tomonori
Biography
March 2008: Graduated from Kyoto University School of Medicine
April 2008: Resident doctor at Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital
April 2010: Medical doctor of Gastroenterology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital
April 2013: Admitted to doctoral course at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine
(Research into the mechanism of gene mutations during liver carcinogenesis and the cells of origin of liver carcinogenesis)
April 2014: Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1)
March 2017: Completed doctoral course at Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, obtained Ph.D. (Medicine)
April 2017: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kyoto University
September 2017; Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon Health & Science University
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Special Research Fellow Overseas Special Research Fellow
(Researching liver regeneration and carcinogenesis mechanisms based on changes in hepatocyte ploidy in the laboratory of Professor Markus Grompe)
August 2020: Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University (Prof. Eiji Hara Laboratory)
(Research into ploidy change, cell damage, and drug resistance of cancer)
From April 2024: Associate Professor, Laboratory of Ploidy Pathology, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University