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Kato Lab
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The lab explores, studies, and creates proteins that work as sensors in living organisms.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring, understanding, and creating proteins
The Kato Lab studies proteins that act as "biological sensors," receiving stimuli from the outside world, such as light and chemical substances, and converting them into information.
The lab discovers new molecules in nature and elucidates their structures, functions, and mechanisms of action at the molecular level.
Centered on structural analysis by cryo-electron microscopy, it combines methods such as structure prediction, molecular dynamics simulation, and electrophysiology.
Based on the findings, the lab engineers and creates proteins, developing tools for research as well as drug discovery seeds that lead to next-generation medicine.
Key terms
- Cryo-electron microscopy
- A microscope that observes a specimen with an electron beam while it is kept frozen at a very low temperature. It is used to determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins
- Optogenetics
- A technique in which light-responsive proteins are introduced into cells and light is applied to control the activity of neurons and other cells
- GPCR
- G protein-coupled receptor. The largest family of receptors, located in the cell membrane, that receive hormones and other signals, and the target of many drugs
NewsLab news
Now recruiting graduate students and postdocs. Lab tours are accepted at any time
A paper on the NOAH-ARK1 system for rapid structural analysis of GPCRs has been published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Two papers co-authored with Nagoya Institute of Technology and others have been published in Science and featured on the cover
A Project Assistant Professor and a doctoral student received the Young Investigator Encouragement Award at the Annual Meeting of the Protein Science Society of Japan
A paper on the structural dynamics of the neuropeptide receptor NTSR1 has been published in Nature
ResearchResearch themes
Living organisms receive information from the outside through diverse means, including light, heat, sound, chemical substances, and magnetism, and at the core of this are proteins that receive stimuli and convert them into information. The lab discovers such receptors in nature, elucidates their structures and functions, and modifies them to develop new tools and to contribute to drug discovery.
*Illustrative imageRhodopsins That Receive Light
Some microbial rhodopsins can be used as key molecules in optogenetics, which controls neural activity with light. Focusing on channelrhodopsins, the lab pursues the discovery, structural analysis, functional analysis, and engineering of light-sensing proteins as one integrated effort, leading to the development of next-generation optogenetic tools.
*Illustrative imageGPCRs That Receive Chemical Stimuli
For GPCRs that receive hormones, neurotransmitters, and other signaling molecules, the lab combines the search for their partner molecules, structural analysis of complexes, pharmacological functional analysis, and cell imaging to investigate signal transduction mechanisms, and extends this work to the development of drug discovery seeds and molecular sensors.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms for Sensing Magnetism and Ultrasound
For receptors that sense magnetism, ultrasound, temperature, and mechanical stimuli, much remains unknown about their molecular identities and the mechanisms by which they convert stimuli into information. Drawing on its foundation in gene discovery, structural analysis, functional analysis, and molecular design, the lab is searching for new receptors and analyzing their structures and functions.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Kato Lab consist of faculty, project researchers, doctoral and master's students, academic specialists, and a secretary.As of 2026
- ProfessorHideaki KatoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorMasahiro Fukuda
- Project Assistant ProfessorSuhyang Kim
- Project Assistant ProfessorKazuhiro Kobayashi
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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: “Chlamydomonas6-1” Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility, Dartmouth College / Public domain (cropped)
- Rhodopsins That Receive Light: “Salt evaporation ponds on San Francisco Bay” Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- GPCRs That Receive Chemical Stimuli: “GPCR in membrane” Repapetilto / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Mechanisms for Sensing Magnetism and Ultrasound: “Rouge gorge familier - crop (WB correction)” PierreSelim / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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