The Ebisuya group has a strong expertise in stem cell and developmental biology, focusing on fundamental questions such as why different animal species exhibit varying biological times. Utilizing stem cell-based models, they have made significant strides in this field. Notably, they have successfully recapitulated the developmental timing mechanism known as the segmentation clock using stem cells from a wide range of mammalian species, including mice, humans, rabbits, cows, marmosets, and even rhinoceroses^1,2,3,4. Through this innovative “stem cell zoo” platform, they demonstrated that cells from each species retain their distinct developmental tempo and biochemical kinetics in vitro. Currently, the team is investigating species-specific distributions of biomolecular condensates and their role in shaping these unique developmental tempos.

References:

1. Matsuda et al. Species-specific segmentation clock periods are due to differential biochemical reaction speeds. Science. 2020;369(6510):1450-1455. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba7668
2. Lázaro et al. A stem cell zoo uncovers intracellular scaling of developmental tempo across mammals. Cell Stem Cell. 2023;30(7):938-949.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2023.05.014
3. Matsuda et al. Recapitu-lating the human segmentation clock with pluripotent stem cells. Nature. 2020;580(7801):124-129. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2144-9
4. Sanaki-Matsumiya et al. Periodic formation of epithelial somites from human pluripotent stem cells. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):2325. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29967-1