Fumio MOTEGI
Assistant Professor, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
fmotegi@tll.org.sg
Level 10 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411
Research Program
Mechanotransduction in Tissues Group
Affiliations
Principal Investigator, Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
Welcoming the latest summer interns to the lab!
The Chan Lab kicked off the summer by welcoming our incoming interns over a hearty meal together!
Building the Future of Cell Biology Together at Cell Bio 2026
Professor Rong Li, President of the American Society for Cell Biology calls for participation for Cell Bio 2026 in San Diego. The meeting will feature more than 400 scientific talks and over 2,500 poster presentations, alongside symposia, minisymposia, and special interest subgroup sessions selected by the Program Committee directly from member-suggested topics.
Seeking Research Assistant in the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Assistant to join the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.
Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Vascular Mechano-medicine Lab led by Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute and Department of Physiology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.
A Cell Never Forgets: How Prior Environments Affect Confined Cell Migration
Researchers from the Holle Lab at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS discover that cells retain mechanical memory that influences subsequent migration despite environmental changes, suggesting broader implications for understanding wound healing, fibrosis and cancer metastasis.
The Young Lab Welcome Visitors from Raffles Girls’ School!
The Young Lab hosted visitors from Raffles Girls' School as part of MBI's outreach event.
Fumio Motegi
Principal Investigator (2013-2021)
Research Areas
Mechanobiology of 1) cell polarity establishment and 2) soma-germline fate determination
Research Interests
Cell polarity, establishment of spatial asymmetry within a cell, is necessary for diverse processes in living organisms. Dedicated polarity proteins generate and maintain cellular asymmetry, leading to establishment of functional architecture in many types of cells. Despite the conserved role of polarity proteins, a fundamental question remains unanswered: How do developmental cues break cellular symmetry along the body axis during embryogenesis?
Movie 1: Breaking symmetry of embryonic polarity
Our group is interested in understanding the mechanics of 1) initiation of cell polarization and 2) spatial patterning of cellular asymmetry. A simple model system, C. elegans zygote, provides the unique opportunity to explore such initial procedures in cell polarization, as the zygotes do not rely on pre-localized proteins/RNAs or extrinsic cues to trigger asymmetry but instead undergo “de novo” polarization (Movie 1). By taking multi-disciplinary approach with genetics, biochemistry, and modern imaging technology, our group aims to:
- Define the nature of the cue that initiates polarization
- Assess the mechanics of spatial patterning of cellular asymmetry
- Understand the role of polarity kinases in germ-soma dichotomy
These views will delve into the basic principles of cell polarity and yield insights into how a developing embryo commits to somatic or germline cell fates with precision and accuracy. The molecular similarity of C. elegans to other systems makes it very likely that this project will highlight highly conserved mechanisms and lead to insights into asymmetric division in stem cells, prevention of cancer, and tissue regeneration.
Symmetry breaking is the process by which cellular uniformity is broken to generate asymmetry in space. The cue that triggers symmetry breaking leads to the modulation of cell cortex to generate two distinct domains. The C. elegans zygote becomes polarized after fertilization by generating distinct domains: the anterior domain contains a complex of PAR-3, PAR-6, and atypical protein kinase C/aPKC (shown in magenta), and the posterior domain includes PAR-1 kinase and the RING protein PAR-2 (shown in green). Segregation of two sets of PAR proteins is critical for decision whether to become somatic cells or germ cells.
Biography
Fumio Motegi obtained his university diploma at Tokyo University of Science and completed his Master’s study and doctoral degree at the University of Tokyo. He did his postdoctoral work with Prof. Asako Sugimoto at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology and with Prof. Geraldine Seydoux at Johns Hopkins University. He joined MBI and Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory as a Principal Investigator in August 2012 and holds a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor at Department of Biological Sciences at National University of Singapore.
Education
PhD University of Tokyo
Recent Publications
- Liu OX, Lin LB, Bunk S, Chew T, Wu SK, Motegi F, and Low BC. A ZO-2 scaffolding mechanism regulates the Hippo signalling pathway. FEBS J 2024;. [PMID: 39462647]
- Kimura K, and Motegi F. Fluid flow dynamics in cellular patterning. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2021;. [PMID: 34274213]
- Lim YW, Wen F, Shankar P, Shibata T, and Motegi F. A balance between antagonizing PAR proteins specifies the pattern of asymmetric and symmetric divisions in C. elegans embryogenesis. Cell Rep 2021; 36(1):109326. [PMID: 34233197]
- Gan WJ, and Motegi F. Mechanochemical Control of Symmetry Breaking in the Caenorhabditis elegans Zygote. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 8:619869. [PMID: 33537308]
- Motegi F, Plachta N, and Viasnoff V. Novel approaches to link apicobasal polarity to cell fate specification. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 2019; 62:78-85. [PMID: 31731147]
- Zhao P, Teng X, Tantirimudalige SN, Nishikawa M, Wohland T, Toyama Y, and Motegi F. Aurora-A Breaks Symmetry in Contractile Actomyosin Networks Independently of Its Role in Centrosome Maturation. Dev. Cell 2019; 48(5):631-645.e6. [PMID: 30861375]
- Ramanujam R, Han Z, Zhang Z, Kanchanawong P, and Motegi F. Establishment of the PAR-1 cortical gradient by the aPKC-PRBH circuit. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2018;. [PMID: 30177850]
- Zhang Z, Lim YW, Zhao P, Kanchanawong P, and Motegi F. ImaEdge: a platform for the quantitative analysis of cortical proteins spatiotemporal dynamics during cell polarization. J. Cell. Sci. 2017;. [PMID: 29113997]
- Wang S, Low TYF, Nishimura Y, Gole L, Yu W, and Motegi F. Cortical forces and CDC-42 control clustering of PAR proteins for Caenorhabditis elegans embryonic polarization. Nat. Cell Biol. 2017;. [PMID: 28737772]
- Ramanujam R, Low TYF, Lim YW, and Motegi F. Forceful patterning in mouse preimplantation embryos. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 2017;. [PMID: 28577924]
