Member

Kana Furukawa

  • PI
R3 Institute for Newly-Emerging Sience Design, The University of Osaka
Assistant Professor
Research Areas
Developmental biology, Molecular biology, Mechanobiology
Keywords
Tracheal cartilage, Tissue interaction, Pattern formation, Morphogenesis

Related Outline

I like shapes. In cells, I really like epithelial cells, which contribute a lot to the shaping of tissues. When I observe living things, I find myself thinking about the morphogenetic mechanism, wondering how their shape was formed. Outside of research, I have hobbies that include riding my road bike, singing, and visiting museums and art galleries. I also enjoy collecting insects with my child. While doing that, I remembered that I used to dream of becoming an insect expert when I was a child. When I was in elementary school, I had the opportunity to learn about cancer. I was fascinated by the question: why would my own cells threaten my life? That sense of wonder became the starting point into my life sciences to research. I was born in Osaka and raised in Tokyo. After becoming an adult, I returned to live in Osaka. My relative is spread across in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and Hyogo, so my Kansai dialect is a mix of several local variations. I live my life as a “fake Kansai person”. Today, I balance my life between being a researcher and being a mother of two children. It is not always easy, and I face challenges every day trying to fulfill both roles to the best of my ability.

Career

Kana received her Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University (Laboratory of Shigeo Ohno), and obtained her Ph.D. in 2017 from the same institution. In 2018, she joined the laboratory of Mitsuru Morimoto at RIKEN as a research scientist. From 2019 to 2021, she was a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (PD). Since 2022, she has held her current position.

Representative Achievements

  • AP2A1 modulates cell states between senescence and rejuvenation.
    Pirawan Chantachotikul, Shiyou Liu, Kana Furukawa, Shinji Deguchi
    Cellular signalling
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2025.111616
  • Title: Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of Ser852 and Ser889 control clustering, localization, and function of PAR3.
    Authors: Kazunari Yamashita, Keiko Mizuno, Kana Furukawa, Hiroko Hirose, Natsuki Sakurai, Maki Masuda-Hirata, Yoshiko Amano, Tomonori Hirose, Atsushi Suzuki, Shigeo Ohno
    Journal: Journal of cell science
    DOI: 10.1242/jcs.244830
  • Bidirectional Wnt signaling between endoderm and mesoderm confers tracheal identity in mouse and human cells
    Keishi Kishimoto, Kana T Furukawa, Agustin Luz-Madrigal, Akira Yamaoka, Chisa Matsuoka, Masanobu Habu, Cantas Alev, Aaron M Zorn, Mitsuru Morimoto
    Nature communications
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17969-w
  • The Epithelial Circumferential Actin Belt Regulates YAP/TAZ through Nucleocytoplasmic Shuttling of Merlin
    Kana T. Furukawa, Kazunari Yamashita, Natsuki Sakurai, Shigeo Ohno
    Cell Reports
    DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.07.032
  • Tumor suppressor protein Lgl mediates G1 cell cycle arrest at high cell density by forming an Lgl-VprBP-DDB1 complex
    Kazunari Yamashita, Mariko Ide, Kana T. Furukawa, Atsushi Suzuki, Hisashi Hirano, Shigeo Ohno
    Molecular Biology of the Cell
    DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E14-10-1462