Members - Department of Stem Cell Biology

Professor Dr. Kunimasa Ohta

Dr. Ohta is the principal investigator (PI) of the lab. He is serving as a Professor of Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University. Dr. Ohta received his PhD degree from Kyushu University in Molecular Life Science. He did his post doctoral research at Dr. Keynes Lab, Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, England.

Dr. Ohta was an associate professor at the Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Kumamoto University worked with Dr. Tanaka. He received Kumamoto Medical Young Investigator award in 2005 and Saito award in 2015 for his distinguished work in neurogenesis and stem cell biology. He is a nominated member of the advisory scientific committee of International CCN Society and the secretary general of Japanese Society of Developmental Biology. His research endeavours are focused on unrevealing the mystery of stem cell regulation and its creation. His work emphasizes mammalian neurogenesis and diseases (stem cell regulation) and ribosome-mediated cell reprogramming (stem cell creation).

Assistant professor Dr. Keisuke Yamashita

Dr. Yamashita is an Assistant professor of Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kyushu University, and belonging to Department of Stem Cell Biology (Professor Dr. Kunimasa Ohta’s lab). He received his PhD degree from graduate school of Systems Life Sciences, Kyushu University (Professor Dr. Shun-ichiro Kawabata’s lab). He did post doctoral research at Faculty of Sciences, Fukuoka University (Professor Dr. Takumi Koshiba’s lab). He is from Kagoshima.

His research of doctoral course is functional analysis coagulation factors of horseshoe crabs (Kabutogani in Japanese) using recombinant proteins. Horseshoe crabs is important species in terms of endotoxin check reagents. He joined the project of mitochondrial proteins as a postdoctoral fellow in Fukuoka University. In this lab, he will work for contribution to the field of stem cell biology.

Ph.D. Student

Tan Fuchao

Tan Fuchao is a PhD, D5 student. He is from SHENZHEN city, CHINA. He graduated from Kyushu University worked on lipid metabolism. He is involved in the ribosome project.

I have passion for making music, reading books and cooking. I enjoy the felling of knowing new fact and discoveries.

Tenta Ohkubo

Tenta Ohkubo is a PhD, D4 Student. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Oita University. He is from Oita prefecture, Japan. Currently, he is involved in the “Tsukushi” project.

My hobbies are playing Mahjong and taking a walk. I am interested in brain inflammation and researching it.

Gu Haoxuan

Gu Haoxuan is a PhD, D4 student. He is from DALIAN, CHINA. He completed his Undergraduate degree from JI LIN University, China. His undergraduate research focus was “the enzymatic preparation of chiral diamine compounds”. Now he is working on the ribosome project.

I like fitness and music in my daily life. I love Japanese music, and I can sing many hit Japanese pop songs. In my leisure time, I like playing different kinds of music games to relax. I love watching youtube and doing body stretching exercises. I want to have versatile expertise in various fields.

Master's Student

Shota Inoue

Shota Inoue is a master’s, D1 student. He is from Miyazaki city, Japan. He is involved in the ribosome project.

I like basketball, baseball and cooking. I have been playing basketball since I was a child. I absorbed into baseball after becoming an undergraduate student. I can cook basically anything.

Ayana Tahara

Ayana Tahara is a master’s, D1 student. She is from Fukuoka city, Japan. She is involved in the ribosome project.

International Student

Sabrina Quaresima

Sabrina Quaresima is from Italy.
She came as an international student in 2022 to 2024.

I’m from Italy where I am doing a PhD in the field of neurobiology and neural stem cells. I’m passionate of brain imaging and molecular biology. I have been in Ohta lab several times and every time I feel back home. Love to spend my time in Japan, surrounded by beautiful places and lovely people.

Pomies Lucile

Pomies Lucile is from France.
She came as an international student in 2023.

I am from Bordeaux and there is nothing in the world I love more than sitting around a table with my family, friends and good wine. Coming to Japan is a dream come true and my ambition is to contribute to the advancement of tomorrow’s biomedicine.

Elizaveta Bazerbe

Elizaveta Bazerbe is from France.
She came as an international student in 2024.

My name is Liza, I was born and raised in Ukraine and went to study in France for my master at an engineering agronomy school. I took a gap year to fulfil my wish to travel across Japan and I am grateful and very happy to be able to do an internship on ribosomes at Ohta lab, as biology is a field I am passionate about.

Emma Cauchois

Emma Cauchois is from France.
She came as an international student in 2024.

I am a biotechnology engineering student from Bordeaux, France. Traveling to Japan to discover its rich culture and its beautiful nature landscapes has been my dream since I am a kid. I am therefore very happy to be able to enrich my knowledge in biomedicine here in Japan by being part of Kyushu University and participating in the ribosomes project at Ohta Lab.

Alumni

Anamika Datta

Anamika Datta successfully completed her PhD in 2024. Currently working as a Postdoc in Institute of Science Tokyo.

Akito Shima

Akito Shima is an Undergraduate student in 2024.

Arif Istiaq

Arif Istiaq successfully completed his PhD in 2022. Currently working as a Postdoc in University of Washington since 2024.

Mikiko Kudo

Mikiko Kudo successfully completed her PhD in 2022. Currently working as a Postdoc in Kyushu University.

Kousei Takashi

Takashi Kousei was a Master’s student graduated 2022. Currently he is working as a specialist in a Food manufacturing company.

Shintaro Nakayama

Shintaro Nakayama was a Master’s student graduated 2021.