Polymer Chemistry & Materials Engineering

Biography

After getting the Ph.D. (Degree of Engineering) from the University of Tokyo in 1989, he joined the Tokyo University of Science as an assistant professor and initiated the molecular evolutionary engineering of the valuable enzymes capable of catalyzing industrially important reactions. Representative projects are cold adaptation of a mesophilic enzymes and activity increase of bioactive peptides. In 1997, he visited to join as research scientist at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Immune System, Luis-Pasteur University in France. After spending the decade, he joined Prof. Doi’s Polymer Chemistry Laboratory of RIKEN as a senior research scientist and for the first time introduced modern approaches such as enzyme evolution to the biotechnological production of natural polyesters. He was promoted to Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, in 2004, and moved to Tokyo University of Agriculture this Spring. His current main research focuses on the Synthetic Biology for novel type of polymers based on the creation of novel biological catalysts, and biologically active molecules that can be adapted to the desired environment or biosystems. The published original papers are over 180.

Representative awards 2013: Top-ranked Research Award recommended by President of Hokkaido University 2016: Prizes for Science and Technology, The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECST) ca.

Research Interest

Synthetic Biology, Novel Biological Catalysts, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Natural Polyesters