Chemical Biology Team

We provide core technologies to design, create, and label high-affinity molecular probes specific to the suitable molecular targets, which enables the exploration of molecular dynamics and pathophysiological changes, and the control of molecular function inside living organisms.

Research Fields

Chemistry / Biology & Biochemistry / Molecular Biology & Genetics / Immunology / Pharmacology & Toxicology / Clinical Medicine / Agricultural Sciences / Plant & Animal Science / Microbiology / Neuroscience & Behavior / Computer Science / Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Sciences & General / Multidisciplinary

Research Subjects

• Creation of molecular imaging probes for target molecules by Chemical Biology
• Sequence-based strategy of imaging probe innovation
• Imaging probe development by combination of functional building blocks

Publications

1. Tanaka, K., Siwu, E.R.O., Minami, K., Hasegawa, K., Nozaki, S., Kanayama, Y., Koyama, K., Chen, W. C., Paulson, J. C., Watanabe, Y., and Fukase, K.:
   "Non-invasive imaging of dendrimer-type N-Glycan clusters: Remarkable in vivo dynamics dependence on oligosaccharide structure."
   Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49(44), 8195-9200 (2010).
2. Kuboyama, T., Nakahara, M., Yoshino, M., Cui, Y.L., Sako, T., Wada, Y., Imanishi, T., Obika, S., Watanabe, Y., Suzuki, M., and Doi, H.:
   "Stoichiometry-focused 18F-labeling of alkyne-substituted oligodeoxynucleotides using azido([18f]fluoromethyl)benzenes by Cu-catalyzed Huisgen reation."
   Bioorg. Med. Chem. 19(1) 249-255 (2011).
3. Takahashi, K., Onoe, K., Doi, H., Nagata, H., Yamagishi, G., Hosoya, T., Tamura, Y., Wada, Y., Yamanaka, H., Yokoyama, C., Mizuma, H., Takashima, T., Bergström, M., Onoe, H., Långström, B., and Watanabe, Y.:
   "Increase in hypothalamic aromatase in macaque monkeys treated with anabolic androgenic steroids: PET study with [11C]vorozole."
   Neuroreport 22(7) 326-330 (2011).
4. Takashima-Hirano, M., Takashima, T., Katayama, Y., Wada, Y., Sugiyama, Y., Watanabe, Y., Doi, H., and Suzuki, M.:
   "Efficient sequential synthesis of PET probes of COX-2 inhibitor　[11C]Celecoxib and its major metabolite [11C]SC-62807 and in vivo behavior evaluation by positron emission tomography."
   Bioorg Med Chem. 19(9) 2997-3004 (2011).
5. Yashio, K., Katayama, Y., Takashima, T., Ishiguro, N., Doi, H., Suzuki, M., Wada, Y., Tamai, I., and Watanabe, Y.:
   "Synthesis of [11C]uric acid, using [11C]phosgene, as a possible biomarker in PET imaging for diagnosis of gout."
   Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 22(1) 115-119 (2012).
6. Takashima, T., Kitamura, S., Wada, Y., Tanaka, M., Shigihara, Y., Ishii, H., Ijuin, R., Shiomi, S., Nakae, T., Watanabe, Yu., Cui, Y., Doi, H., Suzuki, M., Maeda, K., Kusuara, H., Sugiyama, Y., and Watanabe, Y.:
   "PET Imaging-Based Evaluation of Hepatobiliary Transport in Humans with (15R)-11C-TIC-Me."
   J. Nucl. Med. 53(5) 741-748 (2012).
7. Ijuin, R., Takashima, T., Watanabe, Y., Sugiyama, Y., and Suzuki, M.:
   "Synthesis of [(11)C]dehydropravastatin, a PET probe potentially useful for studying OATP1B1 and MRP2 transporters in the liver."
   Bioorg. Med. Chem. 20(12) 3703-3709 (2012).
8. Kawasaki, T., Marumo, T., Shirakami, K., Mori, T., Doi, H., Suzuki, M., Watanabe, Y., Chaki, S., Nakazato, A., Ago, Y., Hashimoto, H., Matsuda, T., Baba, A., and Onoe, H.:
   "Increase of 20-HETE synthase after brain ischemia in rats revealed by PET study with (11)C-labeled 20-HETE synthase-specific inhibitor."
   J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 32(9) 1737-1746 (2012).
9. Iwata, T., Tanaka, K., Tahara, T., Nozaki, S., Onoe, H., Watanabe, Y., and Fukase, K.:
   "A conformationally fixed analog of the peptide mimic Grb2-SH2 domain: synthesis and evaluation against the A431 cancer cell."
   Mol. Biosyst. in press (2013).
10. Långström, B., Karimi, F., and Watanabe, Y.:
    "Endogenous compounds labeled with radionuclides of short half-life—some perspectives."
    J. Labelled Compd. Rad. in press (2013).