Team Leader
Takashi ANGATA (D.Sci.)

Research Areas

Glycans cover the surface of all living cells, and their structures reflect the "metabolic status" of the cell in a sensitive manner. Glycosylation changes associated with such diseases as infectious diseases and various types of cancer are well documented. Our team studies how glycan-recognition proteins in our body recognize these aberrantly glycosylated cells, and how they contribute to repair or remove these "sick" cells. In particular, our study is focused on the interactions between "sialic acids" (a group of sugars located at the outermost end of glycans) and "Siglecs" (a group of glycan-recognition proteins mostly expressed on the innate immune cells).
Our team is supported by the Osaka University Global Center of Excellence (COE) Program "Frontier Biomedical Science Underlying Organelle Network Biology", and is conducting the research in close collaboration with the participants of the Program and other teams of the Systems Glycobiology Research Group.

Research Subject

1. Recognition of "foreign objects" by activating Siglecs and its involvement in diseases
2. How metabolic and redox state changes of cells alter glycosylation patterns via "glycan cycle"

Related links

1. RIKEN Advanced Science Institute Website_Laboratories Page