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Functional Materials Interdisciplinary Chemistry Lab
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A lab that develops new materials for cancer diagnosis and treatment using photofunctional soft materials.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading out pressure through molecular luminescence
The Functional Materials Interdisciplinary Chemistry Lab (Fukuhara Lab) studies photofunctional soft materials for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The lab searches for and develops materials, ranging from organic molecules to supramolecules and polymers, that can measure the pressure (acoustic waves) actually applied to cells.
The background is near-future cancer medicine, which requires diagnostic and therapeutic technologies that place little burden on the body.
On the lab's website, it is introduced under the name "Fukuhara Lab".
Key terms
- Allosteric effect
- An effect in which the structural change that occurs when a receptor captures an analyte is transmitted to a distant amplification site
- Pressure-sensitive soft materials
- Molecular materials that read out pressure as molecular luminescence
- Photodynamic therapy
- A cancer treatment in which a photosensitizer is administered into the body and light is applied to the tumor
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to develop materials for diagnostic and therapeutic technologies that place little burden on the body, as required in near-future cancer medicine. In addition to searching for and developing photofunctional soft materials that can measure the pressure applied to cells, it works on highly sensitive detection of tumor markers and on materials for photodynamic therapy.
*Illustrative imageHighly sensitive cancer marker detection
The lab proposes a method that uses the allosteric effect found in biological systems: the structural change that occurs when a receptor captures an analyte is transmitted to an amplification site, producing an amplified signal. It can sense even peptides secreted by pancreatic cancer with high sensitivity.
*Illustrative imageCombination therapy targeting cancer and sugar
This is research on combination therapy that targets cancer and sugar. The lab has found that a sensor made by attaching a signaling unit to the polysaccharide curdlan can detect acarbose, a diabetes drug, quantitatively and with high sensitivity.
*Illustrative imageMaterials that visualize pressure on cells
The lab has discovered pressure-sensitive soft materials that read out pressure as molecular luminescence. It is currently carrying out a large-scale search for and development of materials that can image the pressure waves applied to cells.
*Illustrative imageNew photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy
Photodynamic therapy is a cancer treatment in which a photosensitizer is administered and light is applied to the tumor. The lab is developing stimulus-responsive photofunctional soft materials in which singlet fission proceeds, as new photosensitizers.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Fukuhara Lab consist of faculty, secretaries, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorGaku Fukuhara
- Assistant ProfessorTomoyuki Hamachi
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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: “Photodynamic therapy (red)” John Crawford (Photographer) / Public domain (cropped)
- Highly sensitive cancer marker detection: “ELISA test for HIV” James Gathany; content provider(s): CDC/ Hsi Liu, Ph.D., MBA, James Gathany. / Public domain (cropped)
- Combination therapy targeting cancer and sugar: “Sugar 2xmacro” Lauri Andler (Phantom) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Materials that visualize pressure on cells: “SenseBox Pressure+Temperature, Watterott-6120” Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- New photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy: “Photodynamic therapy” 作者不詳 / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Soft Materials Interdisciplinary Chemistry Lab): “Sample of Polyvinyl alcohol” LHcheM / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nano-Biodevice International Collaboration Lab): “Surface plasmon resonance device” Laundry / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Mechano-Biomaterials International Collaboration Lab): “CAR-T Gel Delivery” Kassidy Veasaw / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Soft Materials Lab): “Best Medical Equipment Supplier” Farah sharba / CC0 (cropped)
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