germline cells
The Kai Group is recruiting PhD students for April and October enrollment. Since entrance exams are held more than 6 months in advance, please check the admission guidelines carefully.
*International applicants: Please contact us via Kyoto University’s AAO.
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Research Theme
Although individual animals do die, the species are maintained by sexual reproduction which give rises to next generation. Individuals are just like vehicles in which passenger –genetic information– can ride to be inherited to next generation through germline lineage. As such, germline cells are the most important cells to maintain the species. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the ideal model organisms where we can study gametogenesis. How are germline stem cells maintained in the microenvironment, niche? What is the molecular mechanism that controls germline cells to mature into egg and sperm? How germline genomes are safely guarded by non-coding RNA from transposons attacks? Our group has been addressing such molecular mechanisms for better understanding of gametogenesis.
News
- 2026/07/20
- Our alumna Xu Xin’s paper is published in iScience. Congratulations!
- 2026/06/05
- Under the Amgen Scholars Program, undergraduate student Skandaagraja Sundhar from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) has joined the Kai Lab. We hope he enjoys his research life with us during his short stay!
- 2026/04/01
- A warm welcome to Junki Watanabe, who has joined the Kai Lab as a D1/D3 student from the Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University!
- 2026/03/11
- Congratulations to Isshiki and Xin from the Kai Lab on earning their PhDs!
- 2026/03/05
- We are pleased to announce that a paper by our alumnus, Dr. Matsui, on Standstill has been published in PLoS Genetics. Congratulations!
https://www.lif.kyoto-u.ac.jp/j/research/research_results/cat4/2026-03-06/ - 2026/03/03
- The Kai Lab has relocated from the University of Osaka to Kyoto University — A new beginning!
- 2025/11/20
- We held a party to celebrate Matsui-san’s defense! Congratulations and great work!
- 2025/11/20
- Matsui-san (D5/D5) presented his achievement at the doctoral thesis defense. Well done!
- 2025/08/05
- A research paper by Prof. Kai, Jinglan-san, and Associate Prof. Iki as co-authors has been published in Genes to Cell! Congratulations!
Kai T, Zheng J, Iki T. (2025) Paralog‐Dependent Specialization of Paf1C Subunit, Ctr9, for Sex Chromosome Gene Regulation and Male Germline Differentiation in Drosophila. Genes to Cells, 30:e70040