FACULTY
- Department
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Laboratory
- Structural Biology Laboratory
- Field of Study
- Chemistry
- Degree
- Doctor (Science)
History
Graduate School/University, etc.
1997 Graduated from Faculty of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University 1999 Completed First Term Doctoral Course, Graduate School Division of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University 2002 Completed Second Term Doctoral Course, Department of Molecular Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University
Why I Became a Researcher
I think it must be because of my inquiring mind that was motivated by natural phenomena and experimental results. While doing things that had me saying “I wonder why’d that happen?” or “What will happen if I do this?”, I guess I became somewhat of a researcher. In my case, the theme of my graduate study was “adding hydrostatic pressure to protein” and it raised a lot of questions for me. However, when I did my studies, I “observed what I could observe” in regular experiments under ordinary temperature and pressure, and I noticed that I could only observe one aspect of the essence of a substance. It’s been about 20 years since I began my graduate research, but I still feel a sense of romance for “High-pressure Bioscience.”
Research Information
Research Area and Theme
Protein Structure and Functions
I’m conducting characteristic structural biology research using pressure. I will clarify conformational changes in proteins at atomic level resolution, leading to the clarification of life phenomena and the development of therapeutic agents.
Thoughts on Research Theme
On earth, in addition to many types of temperature environments, there are also lifeforms that inhabit many different types of pressure environments, including the deep sea. In most bioscience research that has been conducted, there are many unclear points about the pressure response in life phenomena. Also, research using pressure is not science under special conditions without generality. When thinking about the chemical equilibrium (conformation equilibrium, etc.) of proteins and other substances, pressure is a valuable environmental parameter that can shift the equilibrium. Through characteristic research methods that use pressure, I am deploying research using a new approach. The very fact of deriving a general conclusion for an approach that can be thought of as unique can be said to be original research.
Message to Students
Ignite your inquiring mind
For lectures, I’m mostly in charge of specialized physical chemistry subjects, training subjects, and structural biology. There are many students who don’t like physical chemistry because it’s associated with “physics.” However, you could say that physical chemistry is a subject that is the foundation for thinking. For example, when a drug inhibits the action of a target protein, chemical compounds that strongly interact with the target become drugs. Is it okay to just fit the shapes together as if they were a “key and keyhole”? If you learn physical chemistry, you will understand that it is determined by the balance between changes in enthalpy (retained energy) and changes in entropy (randomness). In physical chemistry, there are some formulas that you will feel are hard, but I am being mindful in my lectures so that everyone can learn with interest. In your graduate research, before anything else, please devote yourself and work as hard as you can on your research. While you are doing that, you are likely to ignite your inquiring mind.