H. Nonaka

Drug metabolic activity as a selection factor for pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatic progenitor cells

This study isolates and expands hepatic progenitor cells from human ESCs by selecting for drug-metabolizing activity, enabling a stable supply of functional liver cells for therapy and drug testing.

Bioorthogonal chemical labelling of endogenous neurotransmitter receptors in living mouse brains

This paper develops a method to label endogenous neurotransmitter receptors in living mouse brains using LDAI chemistry, enabling spatial mapping and dynamic analysis of receptors in health and disease.

Drug metabolism activity is a Critical Intrinsic Selector for Hepatocytes to elongate cell lifespan by using a cell-killing antibiotic

This study develops a method to expand human hepatocytes in vitro using a cell-killing antibiotic, enabling long-term culture and stable supply for drug research.

Puromycin selection of cells with a high expression of the cytochrome P450 CYP3A4 gene activity from a patient with drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and their lifespan prolongation using a combination of CDK4R24C, cyclin D1 and TERT

The paper generates an immortalized hepatocyte cell line with high CYP3A4 expression from a DILI patient and shows its prolonged lifespan and drug-metabolism capacity.

Ammonia-based enrichment and long-term propagation of zone I hepatocyte-like cells

This study shows that ammonia treatment enriches hepatocyte-like cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells, which can be propagated long-term in vitro while maintaining liver-specific gene expression.

Liquid-crystal organization of liver tissue

The paper reveals that hepatocytes in liver tissue follow a long-range liquid-crystal order, challenging the traditional view of random organization and highlighting bi-directional communication between hepatocytes and sinusoids.