This is a summary of the curriculum vitae (CV) of Prof. Yasunori Sasakura, Ph.D., Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan, and Director of the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Japan. He will give a presentation at Fujita Health University.
Technically, worldwide, Japan may be the best in handling a variety of primitive animals as research models, especially when from the ocean. If you work in Japan, it may be worthwhile to consider exploring these models as a unique model for your research. Professor Sasakura is one of the leaders in this field, and as a Director of the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, he is leading around ten faculty members and their associated groups in a variety of studies on marine systems and species. His own group specializes in the Developmental Genetics of Ascidians, and tries to elucidate the development, evolution, and neural functions of these species, and by establishing genetic manipulation systems they were the first to make knockout strains of ascidians (e.g., Sasaki et al. 2014). Ascidians (sea squirts) are primitive chordates—thus our remote cousins—that live in the sea, and their most studied model species is Ciona intestinalis.
Prof. Sasakura has >110 international publications, among which first author papers in PNAS (2003 and 2005) and Genome Biology (2007), last author papers in Nature (2011) and Developmental Cell (2016), and a co-authorship in Science (2002).
Professor Sasakura studied Biology at Kyoto University and there got his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees. His research theme in both cases was Molecular mechanisms of mRNA localization in ascidian embryos. In 2005, he moved to the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, and in 2018 would become Director of the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba. Throughout his scientific career, he has kept studying ascidians in various aspects. He greatly enjoys that they are a compact and simple system with nevertheless many features of higher chordates like humans.
At booths at congresses, Professor Sasakura is a very friendly and enthusiastic advocate for the use of ascidians as model species, and from this I know him as someone who can explain very well and share his passion. For the availability of transgenic C. intestinalis strains, see https://marinebio.nbrp.jp/ciona/top/top.jsp. I am sure that by listening to him, our audience at Fujita will enter a beautiful unknown (almost magical) world, while also learning about an animal model that might boost their research.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
1999 Master’s degree, Biology, Kyoto University, Japan
2002 Ph.D., Kyoto University, Japan
Study topic M.D. and Ph.D.: Molecular mechanisms of mRNA localization in
ascidian embryos
POSITIONS
1999-2002 JSPS Research Fellow (DC1), Kyoto University, Japan
2002-2005 JSPS Research Fellow (PD), Kyoto University, Japan
2005-2010 Lecturer, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of
Tsukuba, Japan
2010-2011 Associate Professor, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Tsukuba, Japan
2011-2014 Associate Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University
of Tsukuba, Japan
2014-present Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba,
Japan
2018-present Director, Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Japan
AWARDS
2006 Encouragement Award of the Zoological Society of Japan (本動物学会 日本動
物学会奨励賞)
2007 Young Researcher Award by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology, Japan (文部科学省 文部科学大臣表彰 若手研究者賞)
2011 Zoological Science Award 2011
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
(from 113 international articles and 9 books)
Yasunori Sasakura, Michio Ogasawara, Kazuhiro W. Makabe
Two pathways of maternal RNA localization at the posterior-vegetal cytoplasm in early ascidian embryos.
Developmental Biology (2000) 220:365-78.
Yasunori Sasakura, Kazuhiro W. Makabe
Identification of cis elements which direct the localization of maternal mRNAs to the posterior pole of ascidian embryos.
Developmental Biology (2002) 250:128-144.
Satoko Awazu, Akane Sasaki, Terumi Matsuoka, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
An enhancer trap in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis identifies enhancers of its Musashi orthologous gene.
Developmental Biology (2004) 275:459-472.
Yasunori Sasakura, Satoko Awazu, Shota Chiba, Nori Satoh
Germ-line transgenesis of the Tc1/ mariner superfamily transposon Minos in Ciona intestinalis.
Proceedings of National Academy of Science U S A (2003) 100:7726-7730.
Yasunori Sasakura, Keisuke Nakashima, Satoko Awazu, Terumi Matsuoka, Akie Nakayama, Jun-ichi Azuma, Nori Satoh
Transposon-mediated insertional mutagenesis revealed the functions of animal cellulose synthase in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.
Proceedings of National Academy of Science USA (2005) 102:15134-15139.
Yasunori Sasakura, Yuichi Oogai, Terumi Matsuoka, Nori Satoh, Satoko Awazu
Transposon mediated transgenesis in a marine invertebrate chordate: Ciona intestinalis.
Genome Biology (2007) 8 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S3.
Akie Nakayama-Ishimura, Jean-philippe Chambon, Takeo Horie, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
Delineating metamorphic pathways in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.
Developmental Biology (2009) 326(2):357-367.
Akiko Hozumi, Narudo Kawai, Reiko Yoshida, Yosuke Ogura, Naoyuki Ohta, Honoo Satake, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
Efficient transposition of a single Minos transposon copy in the genome of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis with a transgenic line expressing transposase in eggs.
Developmental Dynamics (2010) 239(4):1076-1088.
Takeo Horie, Ryoko Shinki, Yosuke Ogura, Takehiro G. Kusakabe, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
Ependymal cells of chordate larvae are stem-like cells that form the adult nervous system.
Nature (2011) 469(7331):525-528.
Yosuke Ogura, Asako Sakaue-Sawano, Masashi Nakagawa, Nori Satoh, Atsushi Miyawaki, Yasunori Sasakura
Coordination of mitosis and morphogenesis: role of a prolonged G2 phase during chordate neurulation.
Development (2011) 138(3):577-587.
Yasunori Sasakura, Miyuki Kanda, Taku Ikeda, Takeo Horie, Narudo Kawai, Yosuke Ogura, Reiko Yoshida, Akiko Hozumi, Nori Satoh, Shigeki Fujiwara
Retinoic acid-driven Hox1 is required in the epidermis for forming the otic/atrial placodes during ascidian metamorphosis.
Development (2012) 139:2156-2160.
Akiko Hozumi, Reiko Yoshida, Takeo Horie, Tetsushi Sakuma, Takashi Yamamoto, Sasakura Y
Enhancer activity sensitive to the orientation of the gene it regulates in the chordate genome.
Developmental Biology (2013) 375(1):79-91.
Nicholas Treen, Keita Yoshida, Tetsushi Sakuma, Haruka Sasaki, Narudo Kawai, Takashi Yamamoto, Yasunori Sasakura
Tissue-specific and ubiquitous gene knockouts by TALEN electroporation provide new approaches to investigating gene function in Ciona.
Development (2014) 141(2):481-487.
Takako Iitsuka, Kaoru Mita, Akiko Hozumi, Mayuko Hamada, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
Transposon-mediated targeted and specific knockdown of maternally expressed transcripts in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.
Scientific Reports (2014) 4:5050.
Chisato Kamiya, Naoyuki Ohta, Yosuke Ogura, Keita Yoshida, Takeo Horie, Takehiro G. Kusakabe, Honoo Satake, Yasunori Sasakura
Nonreproductive role of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the control of ascidian metamorphosis.
Developmental Dynamics (2014) 243(12):1524-1535.
Narudo Kawai, Yosuke Ogura, Tetsuro Ikuta, Hidetoshi Saiga, Mayuko Hamada, Tetsushi Sakuma, Takashi Yamamoto, Nori Satoh, Yasunori Sasakura
Hox10-regulated endodermal cell migration is essential for development of the ascidian intestine.
Developmental Biology (2015) 403:43-56.
Shohei Matsunobu, Yasunori Sasakura
Time course for tail regression during metamorphosis of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.
Developmental Biology (2015) 405:71-81.
Yosuke Ogura, Yasunori Sasakura
Developmental Control of Cell-Cycle Compensation Provides a Switch for Patterned Mitosis at the Onset of Chordate Neurulation.
Developmental Cell (2016) 37(2):148-161.
Yasunori Sasakura, Yosuke Ogura, Nicholas Treen, Rui Yokomori, Sung-Joon Park, Kenta Nakai, Hidetoshi Saiga, Tetsuhi Sakuma, Takashi Yamamoto, Shigeki Fujiwara, Keita Yoshida
Transcriptional regulation of a horizontally transferred gene from bacterium to chordate.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (2016) 283(1845):20161712.
Keita Yoshida K, Azusa Nakahata, Nicholas Treen, Tetsushi Sakuma, Takashi Yamamoto, Yasunori Sasakura
Hox-mediated endodermal identity patterns pharyngeal muscle formation in the chordate pharynx.
Development (2017) 144(9):1629-1634.
Akiko Hozumi, Shohei Matsunobu, Kaoru Mita, Nicholas Treen, Takaho Sugihara, Takeo Horie, Tetsushi Sakuma, Takashi Yamamoto, Akira Shiraishi, Mayuko Hamada, Noriyuki Satoh, Keisuke Sakurai, Honoo Satake, Yasunori Sasakura
GABA-Induced GnRH Release Triggers Chordate Metamorphosis.
Current Biology (2020) 30(8):1555-1561.
Gabriel Krasovec, Akiko Hozumi, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Takayuki Obita, Mayuko Hamada, Akira Shiraishi, Honoo Satake, Takeo Horie, Hisashi Mori, Yasunori Sasakura
d-Serine controls epidermal vesicle release via NMDA receptor, allowing tissue migration during the metamorphosis of the chordate Ciona.
Sciences Advances (2022) 8(10):eabn3264.
