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Food Immune Function Analysis Lab (Endowed Chair)
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An endowed chair that searches foods for immune-boosting components and puts them to use.
AboutAbout the lab
Finding immune-boosting components in food and studying how to use them
The Endowed Chair of Food Immune Function Analysis searches for "immune-boosting components" in foods and studies ways to make effective use of them.
The lab focuses mainly on fucoidan, which is abundant in Okinawa mozuku seaweed, and works to clarify how it enhances immune function and to develop methods for analyzing it.
Joint research with companies and other research institutions, and outreach through events such as public lectures, are also pillars of its activities.
The chair is part of the Division of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, and was established with donations from VENTUNO Co., Ltd. and the NPO Fucoidan Research Institute (a specified nonprofit corporation).
Key terms
- Fucoidan
- A sulfated polysaccharide found in brown algae such as mozuku, responsible for their sliminess.
- Intestinal immunity
- The immune system that monitors for foreign substances in places such as the small intestine.
- Endowed chair
- A chair established with donations from donors and set up for a fixed period.
NewsLab news
Joint research on the isolation and use of lactic acid bacteria begins with Saga University and VENTUNO
Associate Professor Miyazaki's commentary is published in Kagaku to Seibutsu (Chemistry & Biology), the journal of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to find components in food that enhance immune function, clarify how they work, and use them effectively as food. Identifying a component requires repeated cycles of extraction and functional evaluation, followed by purification and evaluation, and an analytical method for measuring its content in food must also be established, so the lab develops analytical methods as well.
*Illustrative imageResearch on the immune functions of foods
Focusing on fucoidan, which is abundant in Okinawa mozuku, the lab works to clarify how it enhances immune function and to develop analytical methods. Since the chair was established, it has investigated the mechanism of action in intestinal immunity and has put great effort into building the evidence needed for the research and development of Foods with Function Claims (immune health category).
*Illustrative imageJoint research with companies and other institutions
The lab conducts joint research with labs inside and outside the university, public research institutions, and private companies. Examples include the research and development of "lactic acid bacteria derived from Amaou strawberries" with VENTUNO Co., Ltd., and a study with the university's microbial engineering lab on the relationship between the gut microbiota and intestinal immunity.
*Illustrative imageOutreach on food and health
The lab regularly holds public lectures to share information on food and immunity and on food and health. It also posts research results presented in papers and at academic conferences on its website, introducing the scientific evidence for immune-boosting components.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Food Immune Function Analysis endowed chair consist of a Professor, a Visiting Professor, and an Associate Professor.As of 2026
- ProfessorNaoto Hirose
- Associate ProfessorYoshiyuki Miyazaki
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Brown Seaweed” Greentea1234 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Research on the immune functions of foods: “Edible fungi in basket 2012 G1” George Chernilevsky / Public domain (cropped)
- Joint research with companies and other institutions: “Strawberry Fields - geograph.org.uk - 484892” Alan Murray-Rust / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Outreach on food and health: “Health and Nutrition icon (Freedom of Information Philippines)” The government of the Republic of the Philippines. / Public domain (cropped)
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