[July. 24] 140th IRCMS Seminar - Dr. Takeya Masubuchi (University of California, San Diego / USA)

July 14 2026

We would like to inform you that the 140th IRCMS seminar has been scheduled as below.

* This IRCMS seminar is open to everyone.

Date       ：July 24th, 2026 (Friday)
Time       ：10:00 - 11:00 (JST)

Zoom
Meeting ID：996 7772 2718
Passcode  ：Sem24Jul

Speaker  ：Dr. Takeya Masubuchi (University of California, San Diego / USA)
Title     　：Biochemical and biophysical principles of immune receptor crosstalk

Abstract :
T cells integrate signals from numerous stimulatory and inhibitory immune receptors to determine their activation, differentiation, and functional fate. While individual receptor signaling pathways have been extensively characterized, the molecular principles governing how multiple receptors cooperate to shape T cell responses remain poorly understood. My research aims to establish a quantitative framework for understanding immune receptor crosstalk by integrating biochemistry, quantitative imaging, systematic screening, and DNA nanotechnology. During my postdoctoral training at the University of California San Diego, I discovered that the inhibitory receptor PD-1 employs intracellular liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) to selectively co-cluster with target receptors, revealing an unexpected mechanism for spatial organization of immune signaling (ref. 1). In parallel, I unraveled fundamental functional divergence between human and mouse PD-1, highlighting the importance of species-dependent immune regulation (ref. 2). In this seminar, I will present these discoveries and discuss my future research program to systematically decipher immune receptor crosstalk through high-throughput functional screening, biophysical analysis of receptor organization, and single-cell transcriptomics, by combining my protein, cell, and DNA nanotechnology expertise (ref. 3). This work aims to establish a comprehensive immune receptor crosstalk landscape that will advance our mechanistic understanding of T cell decision making and provide quantitative principles for designing next-generation immunotherapies.

Major papers:

1. "PD1-induced Shp2 condensation organizes inhibitory signalosomes through selective substrate partitioning"Masubuchi T, Wen AG, Song X, Gaddam K, Shao H, Wu C, and Hui E.bioRxiv, 2026, https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.09.710629

 2."Functional differences between rodent and human PD-1 linked to evolutionary divergence"Masubuchi T, Chen L, Marcel N, Wen AG, Caron C, Zhang J, Zhao Y, Morris PG, Chen X, Hedrick MS, Lu LF, Wu C, Zou Z, Bui DJ, Hui E.Science Immunology. 10: eads6295, 2025 

3."Construction of integrated gene logic-chip"Masubuchi T, Endo M, Iizuka R, Iguchi A, Yoon D H, Sekiguchi T, Qi H, Iinuma R, Miyazono Y, Shoji S, Funatsu T, Sugiyama H, Harada Y, Ueda T, Tadakuma H.Nature Nanotechnology. 13: 933-940, 2018

 Flyer (click to enlarge)