Professor

Juro SAKAI

PROFILE

1988-    Graduated Tohoku University School of Medicine
1994-    Graduated Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine
1994-    Postdoctor Fellowship-University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
2000-    Assistant professor, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
2001-    Group leader- Orphan Receptor Project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
2003-    Professor, Laboratory for Systems Biology and Medicine (LSBM), division of endocrinology and metabolism, RCAST, The University of TOKYO (UTokyo)
2009-    Professor, LSBM, division of endocrinology and metabolism, RCAST, UTokyo

FIELD OF INTEREST

Metabolic syndrome causes cardiovascular disease or stroke at high frequency. Therefore the understanding of underlying mechanisms and effective therapies are badly needed. We identified several histone modification enzymes (HKMTs). Modification of histones by HKMTs can lead to suppression of gene expression due to addition of methyl groups. Our current research focuses on studying the link between energy imbalance and incorrect “epigenetic programming” due to inadequate maternal nutrition and/or metabolic disturbances in the development of obesity.