Professor YONEMURA Shigenobu

  Polarized epithelial cell sheets are essential in the formation and function of a wide variety of organs such as brain, sensory organs, digestive organs, or skin. Most cancers are derived from epithelial cells. Abnormality of epithelial cells and their microenvironment facilitate tumor invasion and metastasis. We are trying to understand the mechanism of morphogenesis and polarization of epithelial cells from the molecular to the tissue level using cell biological techniques as well as the mechanism of tumorigenesis based on ultrastructural analysis.