Three main area of research at the Asally lab are Bacterial Electrophysiology , Collective Dynamics , and Synthetic Biology . Please visit the lab website for more information.
While molecular biology has made astonishing advancements over the last half-century, physiology and physical biology fell out of favour in the 1970s. However, as molecular biology advances, these once-unfashionable domains of biology, like bioelectricity, are beginning to resurge. We are passionate about understanding and exploiting dynamic biological behaviours by combining old and new ideas and learning old to create new!
A list of the publications and the citations to them can be seen at Google Scholar
We are also part of Bio-Electrical Engineering Innovation Hub
Employment:
Associate Professor, Life Sciences, University of Warwick, UK, 2019-present
Assistant Professor, Life Sciences, University of Warwick, UK, 2014-2019
Assistant Project Scientist, Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, CA, 2012-2014
Postdoctoral Researcher, Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern, TX, 2009-2012
Postdoctoral Researcher, Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan, 2007-2009
Education:
PhD, Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan, 2007
MSc, Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan, 2004
BSc, Science, Osaka City University, Japan, 2002
Spinout:
Co-founder, Cytecom Ltd
- Kano, Takeshi, Yasui, Kotaro, Mikami, Taishi, Asally, Munehiro, Ishiguro, Akio, 2021. An agent-based model of the interrelation between the COVID-19 outbreak and economic activities. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 477 (2245)
- Grobas, Iago, Polin, Marco, Asally, Munehiro, 2021. Swarming bacteria undergo localized dynamic phase transition to form stress-induced biofilms. eLife, 10
- 'de Souza-Guerreiro, Tailise Carolina, 'Asally, Munehiro, 2021. 'Seeking insights into aging through yeast mitochondrial electrophysiology. Bioelectricity, 3 (2), pp. 111-115
- Cremin, Kelsey, Jones, Bryn, Teahan, James, Meloni, Gabriel N., Perry, David, Zerfass, Christian, Asally, Munehiro, Soyer, Orkun S., Unwin, Patrick R., 2020. Scanning ion conductance microscopy reveals differences in the ionic environments of gram-positive and negative bacteria. Analytical Chemistry, 92 (24), pp. 16024-16032
- Grobas, Iago, Bazzoli, Dario G., Asally, Munehiro, 2020. Biofilm and swarming emergent behaviours controlled through the aid of biophysical understanding and tools. Biochemical Society Transactions, 48 (6), pp. 2903-2913
- Benarroch, Jonatan M., Asally, Munehiro, 2020. The microbiologist's guide to membrane potential dynamics. Trends in Microbiology, 28 (4), pp. 304-314
- Kantsler, Vasily, Ontañón-McDonald, Elena, Kuey, Cansu, Ghanshyam, Manjari J., Roffin, Maria Chiara, Asally, Munehiro, 2020. Pattern engineering of living bacterial colonies using meniscus-driven fluidic channels. ACS Synthetic Biology, 9 (6), pp. 1277-1283
- Sirec, Teja, Benarroch, Jonatan M., Buffard, Pauline, Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi, Asally, Munehiro, 2019. Electrical polarization enables integrative quality control during bacterial differentiation into spores. iScience, 16, pp. 378-389
- Stratford, James P., Edwards, Conor L.A., Ghanshyam, Manjari J., Malyshev, Dmitry, Delise, Marco A., Hayashi, Yoshikatsu, Asally, Munehiro, 2019. Electrically induced bacterial membrane-potential dynamics correspond to cellular proliferation capacity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 (9), pp. 9552-9557
- Zerfaß, Christian, Asally, Munehiro, Soyer, Orkun S., 2019. Interrogating metabolism as an electron flow system. Current Opinion in Systems Biology, 13, pp. 59-67
- Jiang, Xue, Zerfaß, Christian, Eichmann, Ruth, Asally, Munehiro, Schäfer, Patrick, Soyer, Orkun S., 2018. Impact of spatial organization on a novel auxotrophic interaction among soil microbes. ISME Journal, 12, pp. 1443-1456
- Prindle, Arthur, Liu, Jintao, Asally, Munehiro, Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi, Suel, Gurol, 2018. A novel bacterial cell to cell communication mechanism. Biophysical Journal, 114 (3)
- Prindle, Arthur, Liu, Jintao, Asally, Munehiro, Ly, San, Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi, Süel, Gürol M., 2015. Ion channels enable electrical communication in bacterial communities. Nature, 527, pp. 59-63
- Liu, Jintao, Prindle, Arthur, Humphries, Jacqueline, Gabalda-Sagarra, Marçal, Asally, Munehiro, Lee, Dong-yeon D., Ly, San, Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi, Süel, Gürol M., 2015. Metabolic co-dependence gives rise to collective oscillations within biofilms. Nature, 523 (7562), pp. 550-554
- Oka, Masahiro, Moriyama, Tetsuji, Asally, Munehiro, Kawakami, Koichi, Yoneda, Yoshihiro, 2013. Differential role for transcription factor oct 4 nucleocytoplasmic dynamics in somatic cell reprogramming and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 288 (21), pp. 15085-15097
- Asally, Munehiro, Kittisopikul, M., Rue, P., Du, Y., Hu, Z., Cagatay, T., Robinson, A. B., Lu, H., Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi, Suel, G. M., 2012. Localized cell death focuses mechanical forces during 3D patterning in a biofilm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (46), pp. 18891-18896
- Yasuda, Yoshinari, Miyamoto, Yoichi, Yamashiro, Tomoko, Asally, Munehiro, Masui, Ayumi, Wong, Chin, Loveland, Kate L, Yoneda, Yoshihiro, 2011. Nuclear retention of importin a coordinates cell fate through changes in gene expression. The EMBO Journal, 31 (1), pp. 83-94
- Asally, Munehiro, Yasuda, Yoshinari, Oka, Masahiro, Otsuka, Shotaro, Yoshimura, Shige H., Takeyasu, Kunio, Yoneda, Yoshihiro, 2011. Nup358, a nucleoporin, functions as a key determinant of the nuclear pore complex structure remodeling during skeletal myogenesis. FEBS Journal, 278 (4), pp. 610-621
- 'Asally, Munehiro, 'Prindle, Arthur, 2021. 'Microbial electrophysiology. Bioelectricity, Mary Ann Liebert
- Jiang, Xue, Zerfaß, Christian, Eichmann, Ruth, Asally, Munehiro, Schäfer, P. (Patrick), Soyer, Orkun S., 2017. Impact of spatial organization on a novel auxotrophic interaction among soil microbes. Bio, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratories
| Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control principle for super-survival system inspired by bacterial biofilm formation | Royal Society | 18 Mar 2019 | 17 Mar 2023 |
| WISB extension Oct 21 - March 22 | BBSRC | 01 Oct 2021 | 31 Mar 2022 |
| Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) extension - related to 46082 | BBSRC | 01 Apr 2020 | 31 Mar 2022 |
| Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) | BBSRC | 14 Nov 2014 | 31 May 2020 |
| Rapid, portable, live bacterial cell detector ICURe Innovate application | Innovate UK | 01 Nov 2018 | 31 Dec 2019 |
| Electrical control of bacterial communities | Royal Society | 10 Mar 2016 | 09 Mar 2017 |