Staff

MURAI YutaAssistant Professor

Laboratory
Laboratory of Molecular Chemical Biology
Research Theme
Chemical biology using photocapture
Research Keywords

Chemical biology, Photoaffinity labeling, Bioorganic chemistry

Overview of Research

Bioactive functions are caused by the interaction between biologically active molecules (drug, enzyme or messenger) and a protein. It is necessary to elucidation the mechanism such as where the protein exists, what kind of shape the protein has and ligand-binding domains with the protein directly for developing new drugs. Structural elucidation as well as identification of the target protein is a crucial matter in the field of life sciences for understanding and regulating complex biological processes. Whereas X-ray crystallography and NMR methods are useful for analyzing proteins, it is difficult for GPCR (G-protein-coupled receptor etc.) to apply the methods. The photoaffinity labeling is a valuable chemical method for studying the interactions of biologically active molecules with their target protein by photo-irradiation, and has been applied for the protein imaging or profiling. In particular, this approach is useful for elucidating proteins which are difficult to analyz e by X-ray crystallography and NMR methods. We are researching unexplained proteins using the photoaffinity labeling.

Charge

Representative Publications

Refer to HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS DIRECTORY
(https://researchers.general.hokudai.ac.jp/profile/en.4XpaLVvuVtru4ElxEfUk1A==.html)

Note

<Office Hour>
– Time: Anytime during the lecture period
– Place: Frontier-AMLS, 4F
Please contact in advance by E-mail.
E-mail: ymurai[at]sci.hokudai.ac.jp

Affiliation