Molecular Ligand Biology Research Team
Team Leader
Soichi KOJIMA (Ph.D.)
The Molecular Ligand Biology Research Team aims to provide unique screening systems and figure out novel biological principles establishing bases for new drug discovery. To this end, we study the regulation of transcription/translation, hormonal reaction, chromatin function, immune reaction, differentiation of stem cells, and organogenesis relating to protein modification as well as epigenetics. We investigate the effects of newly discovered and/or synthesized molecular ligands on biological functions described above utilizing cultured animal and plant cells as well as animal and plant models.
- Development of unique chemical screening systems
- Exploration of novel functions and quality control via post-translational modification of proteins
- Basic studies for establishing new diagnosis and therapy
- May 01, 2009
- Protein cross-linking leads to cell death, induces alcohol-related hepatic deficit: Discovery of new mechanism for hepatic cell death in liver damaged by alcohol
- Tatsukawa, H., Fukaya, Y., Frampton, G., Martinez-Fuentes, A., Suzuki, K., Kuo, T.-F., Nagatsuma, K., Shimokado, K., Okuno, M., Wu, J., lismaa, S., Matsuura, T., Tsukamoto, H., Zern, M. A., Graham, R. M., and Kojima, S. :
"Role of transglutaminase 2 in liver injury via crosslinking and silencing of transcription factor, Sp1."
Gastroenterology., 136: 1783-1795 (2009). - Ohnishi A., Hashimoto K., Imai K., and Matsumoto S. :
"Functional characterization of the Bombyx mori fatty acid transport protein (BmFATP) within the silkmoth pheromone gland"
J. Biol. Chem., 284: 5128-5136 (2009) - Tsuzuki, S., Wada, A., and Ito, Y. :
"Photo-immobilization of biological components on gold-coated chips for measurements using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)"
Biotechnol. Bioeng. 102: 700-707 (2009) - Komatsu T., Kawaide H., Saito C., Yamagami A., Shimada S., Nakazawa M., Matsui M., Nakano A., Tsujimoto M., Natsume M., Abe H., Asami T., and Nakano T. :
"The chloroplast protein BPG2 functions in brassinosteroid-mediated post-transcriptional accumulation of chloroplast rRNA."
The Plant Journal., 61: 409-422 (2010) - Mukhopadhyay, B., Liu, J. Osei-Hyiaman, D., Godlewski, G., Mukhopadhyay, P., Wang, L., Jeong, W., Gao, B., Duester, G., Mackie, K., Kojima, S., and Kunos, G.:
"Transcriptional regulation of cannabinoid receptor-1 expression in the liver by retinoic acid acting via retinoic acid receptor-γ. "
J. Biol. Chem. 285(25):19002-19011 (2010) - Furumai R , Uchida K, Komi Y, Yoneyama M, Ishigami K, Watanabe H, Kojima S, and Yoshida M. :
"Spliceostatin A blocks angiogenesis by inhibiting global gene expression including VEGF"
Cancer Science 101(11): 2483-2489 (2010) - Tatsukawa H, Sano T, Fukaya Y, Ishibashi N, Watanabe M, Okuno M, Moriwaki H and Kojima S.:
"Dual induction of caspase 3- and transglutaminase-dependent apoptosis by acyclic retinoid in hepatocellular carcinoma cells."
Mol Cancer. 10: 4 (11pages) (2011)