Yamashita lab investigates how adult stem cells decide upon their fate to maintain tissue stability. In particular, the lab is interested in understanding how stem cells utilize cell biological mechanisms, which are shared with most cell types, yet in a stem cell-specific way, to accomplish stem cells' function. We study how stem cells orient their division plane in the context of signaling microenvironment to divide asymmetrically, how such process is monitored, and how it changes during aging.