Mizuki Honda

During my graduate studies, I focused on elucidating the mechanisms that regulate neural stem cell differentiation, which exhibit unique behaviors depending on the developmental stage and region. My research primarily centered on signal transduction and epigenetic regulation.

However, as I progressed through my doctoral studies, I realized that to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental question—"Why do neural stem cells behave differently depending on the developmental stage and region?"—it was essential to incorporate omics analyses based on spatial information.

Therefore, after obtaining my degree, I transitioned to a laboratory specializing in developmental genetics and epigenomic information analysis. There, I worked on developing spatial omics technologies to elucidate the mechanisms of spatial gene expression regulation in the brain. As a result of these efforts, I developed the Photo-Isolation Chemistry (PIC) technology (Honda et al., Nat. Commun. 2021, STAR Protoc. 2022), which enables the selective capture of omics information from light-irradiated regions of interest on tissue sections.

Currently, I am working on further improving the PIC technology while leveraging a data-driven, multi-layered analytical approach using PIC. My research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms underlying disorders that arise during brain development, maturation, and aging.