[Disease-related Metabolites] Creation of Innovative Technology for Medical Applications Based on the Global Analyses and Regulation of Disease-Related Metabolites

※ Affiliations and titles are as of the end of the research activity.

Strategic Objects

Creation of core technologies for early-stage drug discovery through the investigation of disease-specific profiles of biomolecules

Research Supervisor

Yoshiya Oda (Group officer/Senior director, Tsukuba Research Laboratories, Eisai Co., Ltd.)

Outline

The aim of this Research Area is to create breakthrough technology platforms based on biomolecular dynamics analysis, the outcomes of which will contribute to medical applications such as drug discovery, disease diagnosis, and prevention. The technology platforms should increase the capacity of current systems to find, identify, and quantify disease-related metabolites and their associated factors as potential target molecules for medical applications.

In particular, this Research Area will focus on the development of ultrasensitive detection methods to discover novel disease-associated factors, accurate identification and quantification of newly detected factors, drastically higher throughput analysis, multiplex analysis, and related information technologies. Simultaneously, efforts will be made to establish and advance a series of technology for target analysis based on the repositioning of known physiologically active compounds to understand target metabolites, proteins, and metabolic pathways, as well as for elucidating the mode-of-action of potent compounds where the molecular mechanisms are still unknown. By diversifying current technological approaches, these challenges promise to contribute a proof of concept of human disease control by taking full advantage of the information obtained about core biomolecules as potential targets for medical applications.

This Research Area encourages interdisciplinary approaches ranging from nanotechnology, synthetic chemistry, engineering, and other related fields, to the life sciences, expecting them to culminate in seminal, often transformative research that leads to innovation. Moreover, research management will cooperate closely with the corresponding Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology (CREST) Research Area (operations will be transferred to A-MED in April 2015) to facilitate close-knit collaboration. Thus, individual PRESTO researchers should take responsibility for their own projects and for the team, as members of the virtual-network-type institute, to ensure that mutual benefits are accrued by the two Research Areas.

Year Started : 2013

Asuka Inoue
Associate Professor, Tohoku University
Screening and identification of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that respond to disease-related metabolites.

Toru Komatsu
Assistant Professor, The University of Tokyo
Discovery of Novel Biomarker and Drug Target Proteins by Visualizing Dynamic Protein Functions.

Akira Shigenaga
Lecturer, Tokushima University
Development of innovative tools for identification and functional analysis of target proteins with which biologically active compounds interact.

Takahiro Shibata
Associate Professor, Nagoya University
Establishment of analytical method of protein adductome.

Yuki Sugiura
Lecturer, Keio University
Understanding the basic principles of disease progression by novel molecular imaging technique of metabolic fluxes in vivo.

Motohiro Nishida
Professor, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Establishment of the molecular basis underling regulation of redox homeostasis based on sulfur circulation and metabolism.

Kenichi Yamada
Professor, Kyushu University
Development of fluorescent and mass spectrometry multi-probe for lipid derived radicals and application to animal disease models.

Year Started : 2015

Establishment of Metabolite-based Ubiquitin Ligase Control Engineering

PRESTO Researcher:
Takumi Ito (Associate Professor, Department of Nanoparticle Translational Research, Tokyo Medical University)

Functional RNA modomics for understading neurological diseases

PRESTO Researcher:
Fan-Yan Wei (Associate Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University)

Development of a novel method for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of seasonal and pandemic influenza based on exosome RNA analysis

PRESTO Researcher:
Hiroyuki Oshiumi (Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University)

High-throughput Functional Genomics Screenings to Discover Novel Anti-Cancer Metabolomics Targets by Combining Human shRNA and Microbial cDNA Libraries.

PRESTO Researcher:
Hiroto Katoh (Assistant Professor, Department of Genomic Pathology, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University)

Development of the New Analytical Methods for the Binding Modes of Target Proteins Using LA-LDI MS

PRESTO Researcher:
Masaki Kita (Professor, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University)

Examination of synaptic stress response for the drug discovery of neuropsychiatric disorders.

PRESTO Researcher:
Akiko Hayashi-Takagi (Professor, Institute for Molecular and Cellular Regulation, Gunma University)

Development of fundamental technology for preventive and therapeutic medicine through intestinal metabolites-targeted approach

PRESTO Researcher:
Shinji Fukuda (Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University)

Development of trans-omic analysis for rational design of multicomponent therapeutics and control of multifactorial metabolic diseases

PRESTO Researcher:
Katsuyuki Yugi (Senior Scientist, Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, RIKEN)