Metabolic Medicine
Sakai Laboratory

Tohoku University Graduate School
of Medicine, Division of Molecular
Physiology and Metabolism

Comprehensive analyses of the external cue and epigenomic modulators in browning of fat cells

Deciphering Lifestyle Diseases through Epigenomics and Epitransctomics
As we confront an era of super-aging society, understanding multifactorial diseases like obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease has become a paramount challenge in medical physiology in the 21st century. Moreover, recent insights suggest that parental and fetal nutritional environments during early life may influence the onset of adult obesity and lifestyle diseases, indicating the significance of transgenerational epigenetics. We aim to elucidate the relationship between parental environmental factors and energy metabolism, unraveling the mechanisms underlying the onset of lifestyle diseases and pioneering breakthrough therapies through single-cell analysis, clinical data analytics, and central nervous system manipulation, investigating environmental stimuli-induced epigenetic hanges and post-transcriptional RNA modifications (epitranscriptome).

Our primary research focuses on elucidating:

• (1) The epigenome-RNA modification axis determining adipocyte differentiation and function.
• (2) Mechanisms by which transgenerational epigenetics induce thermogenesis and beige adipocyte formation.

• 
• Transgenerational memory of cold exposure regulates brown adipose tissue activity and energy metabolism

Member

• 
• • Visiting Professor
    Juro SAKAI
  Research Area: Nutritional metabolic medicine

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