Microbial Systems biology lab
Welcome
Microbial Systems Biology Laboratory
at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University
PI: Martin ROBERT
Latest updates
December 25
MSB lab Christmas Lights, brought to you by our chief engineer, Ryunosuke Sakai!
Control systems with a double function.
Happy Holidays!
December 24
Today we held a joint Research Day with the Active Matter (Kakugo) lab at Kyoto University.
Presentations and discussion about a project funded by the CeLiSIS collaborative research fund, a new funding scheme from Kyoto University. We are grateful for the support!
And a holiday-inspired lunch, a new MSB lab tradition.
Thank you all for joining!
Holiday lunch
December 1
R. Sakai and M. Robert presented their latest research results in Fukuoka, Japan at the 47th annual meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan held November 27-29. This included a symposium on microbial multicellularity to co-organized by MR.
https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/mbsj2024/session/2R801-08
https://www.aeplan.jp/mbsj2024/en-index.html
November 26
The MSB laboratory had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Authur Prindle from Northwestern University on November 25-26. He gave a seminar on "Emergent Metabolic Dynamics in Microbial Communities". He also joined our symposium microbial multicellularity as invited speaker at the 47th annual meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan held November 27-29 in Fukuoka, Japan.
https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/mbsj2024/session/2R801-08
https://www.aeplan.jp/mbsj2024/en-index.html
October 1
This month we welcome a new member, Jiming Han, a graduate of Wenzhou Medical University. He's joining the MSB lab as a research student first and hopes to enter the M.Sc. program next year. Welcome aboard Jimi!
September 2
Martin Robert was in Asamushi, Aomori (August 26-31) for the annual ILAS seminar course on marine biology.
https://sites.google.com/kyoto-u.ac.jp/ebmbp24
A total of 11 students from Tohoku University, University of Tsukuba, and Kyoto University participated in this interactive and unique science experience in beautiful Asamushi.
August 24, 2024
Congratulations to Ryonosuke (D3) who won one of the Oral Presentation Awards at the 2024 Gram-positive bacterial genome function meeting held in Nagano, August 23-24. His multi-mode biofilm imaging system is gaining attention!
August 2, 2024
Congratulations to Tayida who won Best Poster Presentation Award at the Amgen Scholars Asia Symposium 2024 held at the University of Tokyo, August 1-2
July 31
This week we say goodbye to Tayida who is returning to Thailand to continue her studies after seven weeks at the MSB lab (Amgen Scholars program). She was a real shooting star, achieving so much in only 7 weeks! Thank you for choosing MSB and our very best wishes!
June 10
Today we welcome Tayida Phanich, an undergraduate student from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. She will spend seven weeks in our lab as part of the Amgen Scholars program.
April 7
This week Tristan Edwards is joining us for an internship while on exchange from ULC (London) Welcome aboard!
April 2
This week we welcome two new students: Mitsuki Suzuki (iD2) and Misaki Sasayama (B4) both joined the MSB lab. Welcome aboard!
March 26 (graduation week)
Congratulations to Yukiko and Yusuke for the successful completion of their Master's and Bachelor's degree, respectively!
All the best for the next step!
December 11
We are just back from the Molecular Biology Society of Japan conference held last week in Kobe (December 6-8). Three successful poster presentations by Yukiko (M2), Yifan (D1) and Ryunosuke (D2). お疲れ様。
November 24
M. Robert presented at BACELL 2023 in Kobe last week: A short talk about "Biofilming beyond B. subtilis" at this international conference on B. subtilis mainly held in Europe but this year in Japan. A very well organized event. #BACELL
September 29
Ryunosuke Sakai (D2 student) won one of the poster awards for his presentation at the Third Research Networking Salon co-organized by the Faculties of Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Biostudies at Kyoto University on September 27-29. Great that his imaging system attracted interest!
September 20
Martin Robert was in Asamushi, Aomori for the popular inter-university Interactive short course in marine biology. A great success after a four-year hiatus. A total of 32 students from Tohoku University, University of Tokyo, University of Tsukuba, and Kyoto University participated in this immersive and unique science experience in beautiful Asamushi.
July 7, 2023 (Happy Tanabata!)
Three students and MR represented the MSB lab at the 19th E. coli workshop in beautiful Yunohama onsen, Yamagata. Very fruitful event! https://ecolimtg2023.wixsite.com/main #大腸菌研究会
April 14, 2023
Last week Yusuke Hoshiba officially joined the MSB lab as a B4 undergraduate student.
Welcome aboard!
March 24, 2023 (Graduation day)
Congratulations to Yifan Zhao, our B4 student graduating this spring with a Bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences!
Stay tuned as he will continue with us for his Ph.D, degree from April.
Youtube video of a presentation for the TEDxTohokuUniversity 2020 conference about the Hidden Life of bacteria.
We believe microorganisms can help us answer big questions about living processes and organisms
What we do
We study the simple model bacterium E. coli, through its genes, proteins and metabolites and how they interact in the living cell. We aim at a better understanding of bacterial metabolic function, a fundamental cellular process that is deeply connected to all other cellular activities. All energy and mass/molecular transformations happening in the cell are what metabolism is all about. We are also trying to better understand how metabolic function is reorganised during adaption to new environments, during growth in large colonies and biofilms, Finally, we hope to uncover how the dynamics of bacterial populations are shaped by cell-cell and metabolic interactions.
While these are fundamental research objectives, they have broad potential applications for metabolic engineering and human/animal health because E. coli is a major ally for bio-production and for human digestive and metabolic function.
With E. coli we can perform experiments safely, rapidly, and conveniently often in a matter of hours or days, a task that could otherwise take weeks, months, if not years, using most other organisms. Moreover, basic functional discoveries made in E. coli can usually apply to most other living organisms.
Metabolism
We are interested in bacterial metabolism, the study of mass and energy transfer in the cell in the form of biochemical reactions.
Complex systems
Complex systems are made up of many components that interact and generate non-intuitive behavior displaying properties that the individual components do not. Bacterial collectives are part of this, as are insect colonies, brains, societies, etc.
Biofilm development
Biofilms are structures formed by microorganisms when growing in large colonies that result in the production of a complex extracellular matrix. Biofilms have unique properties that are thought to protect the cells from various environmental challenges.
Keywords: E. coli, metabolomics, proteomics, biochemistry, biofilms, cellular dynamics, systems biology, complex systems, socio-biology, adaptive evolution
M. Robert 2021-2023