Manipulation of life forms at will！
Well-being（心身の健康と社会的充実を包括する状態）は、持続可能な社会の実現において核となる要素です。私たちは、最先端の医学・工学・情報学的技術を活用したデジタル生物学（Digital Biology）の研究に取り組んでいます。特に我々は、個々の栄養素が生体システムに与える影響を分子レベルで解明し、それらを精密にコントロールする手法の開発を進めることで、生命の作動原理を理解すると共に、食を通じた予防・先制医療への転換を目指しています。将来的には、個人の健康状態をリアルタイムでモニタリングし、ライフスタイルに応じた最適な「食」を提案することで、疾病の予防と健康寿命の延伸に貢献し、全ての人々がWell-beingに過ごせる社会を実現したいと考えています。
私たちは、以下のような研究を行っています。 研究内容にご関心・ご質問等がありましたら、遠慮なくご連絡ください！
Well-being, encompassing physical and mental health alongside societal fulfillment, constitutes a central element in the pursuit of a sustainable society. Our research focuses on integrative Digital Nutrition, leveraging cutting-edge advancements in medicine, engineering, and informatics. This investigation aims to elucidate the molecular impacts of individual nutrients on biological systems and to develop precise methodologies for their regulation. Through this innovative approach, we seek to transition from conventional treatment-centric healthcare to a preventive and proactive paradigm emphasizing nutrition-driven interventions. In the long term, our goal is to enable real-time monitoring of individual health statuses and to deliver tailored dietary recommendations aligned with personal lifestyles. By doing so, we aspire to contribute to disease prevention, the extension of health spans, and the realization of a society where all individuals can thrive in a state of Well-being.
We are engaged in the following research endeavors. Should you have any interest or inquiries regarding our work, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
Every act of creation is first an act of destruction. ― Pablo Picasso
Key Publications
- Rapid manipulation of mitochondrial morphology in a living cell with iCMM. Cell Rep Methods. 2021.
- Identification of a p53-repressed gene module in breast cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2017.
- Argininosuccinate synthase 1 is an intrinsic Akt repressor transactivated by p53. Sci Adv. 2017.
- Compartmentalized AMPK signaling illuminated by genetically encoded molecular sensors and actuators. Cell Rep. 2015.
- Rapid and orthogonal logic gating with a gibberellin-induced dimerization system. Nat Chem Biol. 2012.
CANCER METABOLISM
Cancer metabolism refers to the mechanism by which cancer cells procure the energy required for growth and spread, differing from the metabolic processes of healthy cells. Comprehending cancer metabolism is crucial for advancing therapeutic tactics to curb or delay cancer progression.
Our ongoing research endeavors to address the following inquiries:
- What underlies the dissimilar metabolic systems of cancer cells?
- How do cancer cells perceive and communicate metabolic information to their adaptive mechanisms?
- Can novel cancer treatments be devised by disrupting the metabolic systems of cancer cells?
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
The development of biomolecular devices aimed at deliberately manipulating cellular functions has garnered attention in the interdisciplinary field of synthetic biology. To develop useful biomolecular devices, it is necessary to understand how all bio-molecules cooperate to exhibit functionality and to control biomolecules accordingly. Projects underway in this field are as follows:
- Synthetic lethal weapon to combat cancer cells
- Reprogramming devices to perturb spatiotemporal signaling dynamics in a cell
- Reprogramming devices to perturb metabolic systems in a cell
DIGITAL × BIOLOGY
What would change when artificial intelligence (AI) will be comprehensible enough for everyone to use it? We are currently trying to comprehend and manipulate life forms using "digital biology", a concept that integrates life science and AI technology. AI may assist to visualize the substance of life forms that is difficult to observe through naked eyes. Some of the projects that we are currently working on include:
- Digital stain, a label-free imaging technology
- Application of digital biosensor to visualize invisible information
- Unravelling the mechanism underlying intratumor heterogeneity
PERSONALIZED NUTRITION
Diet is a tremendously complex input for human beings, and personalized nutrition means that the function of 37 trillion cells in our body can be precisely regulated by the input information alone. We are currently working with several collaborators to resolve this challenge. Some of the projects that we are currently working on include:
- Visualization of biological information encoded in blood.
- Epidemiological studies on food and health.
ORGANELLE CODE
The diversity of morphologies displayed by living entities can be attributed to multiple factors, including the attainment of self-replication, the quintessence of life, and the facilitation of efficient information exchange at the cellular level. Consequently, we posit that morphology is not just a phenotype but also a crucial factor in the organization of life. Our objective is to decipher the biological information embedded in the various morphologies possessed by living beings. The current queries being explored in this regard are:
- Why is the morphology of mitochondria altered in various diseases?
- What happens when the organelle morphology is altered in a cell?