Structural Energy Bioscience

Advanced Energy Utilization Division Structural Energy Bioscience Research Section

Professor : Masato KATAHIRA
Associate Professor : Takashi NAGATA
Assistant Professor : Yudai YAMAOKI

We study development of efficient utilization of woody biomass and understanding of life phenomena related to diseases on the basis of structural biology.

http://www.iae.kyoto-u.ac.jp/bio/english.html

Efficient utilization of woody biomass and life phenomena related to diseases on structural biology

We develop the way to efficiently obtain bioenergy and value-added materials from woody biomass by means of powers of living organisms or enzymes, without emission of hazardous substances. Our final goal is the paradigm shift from oil refinery to biorefinery. We also develop the method to directly obtain NMR spectra of nucleic acids and proteins introduced into living human cells. With this in-cell NMR method, we study life phenomena related to disease for development of drugs. Both the researches are conducted at molecular/atomic resolutions.

Biorefinery based on biodegradation of wood biomass studied by NMR

Establishment of biorefinery on the basis of biodegradation of wood biomass studied by NMR.

Obtained the direct evidence of the lignin-carbohydrate linkage in wood cell walls by the heteronuclear multidimensional NMR techniques

The real-time NMR observation of the ssDNA-specific cytidine-deaminase activity of APOBEC3B

Observation of the in-cell NMR signals of the hairpin structure forming DNAs and RNAs introduced inside the living human cells