Yukako Asai, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral Fellow
Department of Neuroscience &
Department of Otolayngology
Education
B.S. Nagoya University, 1995
Ph.D. Nagoya University, 2000
Post-doc. Rockefeller University, 2001-2006
I did my doctoral research in microbiology and molecular biophysics at Nagoya University, in Japan. There, I studied bacterial flagellar rotation and energy transduction in the marine bacterium Vibrio alginolyticus. After my PhD, I switched from bacterial channels -that convert ion flux into mechanical force- to the mechanotransduction channel -that converts mechanical force to ion flux. I first joined the lab of Dr. A.J. Hudspeth at Rockefeller University where I used the zebrafish to study the role of the FGF signaling pathway in the development of the ear. I then joined the lab of Dr. Jeff Holt in the summer 2006, because I am particularly interested in using mice as a model organism. I believe recent technical advances, such as organotypic cultures and gene silencing with virus transfection, have made the use of mice quite convenient and flexible. The physiology of the mechanosensing of hair cells in the vertebrate inner ear has been studied extensively, but many components of the mechanotransduction apparatus have not yet been identified. As a molecular biologist in the lab, I am trying to find genes involved in mechanotransduction, and to combine the reverse genetics approach with biophysical assays.
Contact information
Email: ya2g@virginia.edu
Office: (434)243-9499
Lab: (434) 243-9499
Fax: (434)982-4380
Mailing Address
University of Virginia
Department of Neuroscience
Box 801392
Charlottesville, VA 22908
Delivery Address
University of Virginia
409 Lane Road
MR4 Building, Room 5116
Charlottesvile, VA 22908
Holt / Géléoc Lab Home
