Masahiro Nagano

Nucleome programming for mammalian germ cell development

Our bodies consist of various types of cells, all of which carry the same DNA information. The reason why different cells can arise from the same DNA is believed to be due to the signals that cells receive from their surroundings and the varying epigenetic information within the cells.
In particular, regarding epigenetic information, various mechanisms of gene regulation have been elucidated, including gene repression through promoter methylation, the formation of euchromatin and heterochromatin through histone modifications, gene activation through enhancer-promoter interactions or gene repression by polycomb complexes mediated by chromatin higher-order structures. Comprehensive studies on the three-dimensional (3D) epigenome (nucleome), which consider information ranging from the one-dimensional (DNA methylation) to the three-dimensional (chromatin higher-order structures), have been increasingly active in recent years.
I am interested in focusing on the nucleome and studying how germ cells undergo nucleome programming during differentiation, using the in vitro reconstitution system of germ cells developed in the Saitou Lab. I aim to investigate the nucleomic features that govern germline specific phenomena such as meiosis, as well as the acquisition of totipotency after fertilization.

Masahiro Nagano obtained his M.D. from Kyoto University in 2016, and then worked as a resident doctor at the Kitano Hospital and the Kyoto University Hospital each for one year. Thereafter, he spent three years at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, as a graduate student (under Prof. Mitinori Saitou) with a fellowship from the Takeda Science Foundation. He was appointed assistant professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, in 2021.

Nagano M, Hu B, Yokobayashi S, Yamamura A, Umemura F, Coradin M, Ohta H, Yabuta Y, Ishikura Y, Okamoto I et al (2022) Nucleome programming is required for the foundation of totipotency in mammalian germline development. The EMBO Journal 41

Ishikura Y, Ohta H, Nagano M, Saitou M (2022) Optimized protocol to derive germline stem-cell-like cells from mouse pluripotent stem cells. STAR Protoc 3: 101544

Mizuta K, Katou Y, Nakakita B, Kishine A, Nosaka Y, Saito S, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Kawamoto I, Nakaya M et al (2022) Ex vivo reconstitution of fetal oocyte development in humans and cynomolgus monkeys. EMBO J 41: e110815

Nagano M, Ayaki T, Koita N, Kitano T, Nishikori M, Goda N, Minamiguchi S, Ikeda A, Takaori-Kondo A, Takahashi R (2019a) Recurrent Epstein-Barr Virus-positive (EBV+) Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma (PCNSL) in a Patient with Clinical Features of Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation with Pontine Perivascular Enhancement Responsive to Steroids (CLIPPERS). Internal Medicine 58: 849-854

Nagano M, Kobayashi K, Yamada-Otani M, Kuzuya A, Matsumoto R, Oita J, Yoneda M, Ikeda A, Takahashi R (2019b) Hashimoto's Encephalopathy Presenting with Smoldering Limbic Encephalitis. Internal Medicine 58: 1167-1172

Fellowship program of Takeda Science Foundation (2018-2020)
Excellence in Research Award in ASHBi Retreat 2021 (2021)

Joined

Oct. 11, 2022