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Wakasugi Lab
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A lab that searches for new functions of proteins involved in disease and aging, and creates new proteins of its own.
AboutAbout the lab
New proteins to serve medicine.
The Wakasugi Lab studies how to discover and create proteins with new functions.
The lab searches for new functions of natural proteins involved in diseases such as cancer, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, and infectious diseases, as well as in aging and lifespan, and works to clarify the mechanisms that regulate them.
It also aims to create new proteins with even better functions and to contribute to medicine, including the development of drugs to treat disease.
The lab also conducts basic research that focuses on how proteins acquired their functions over the course of biological evolution.
Key terms
- Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
- An enzyme that, during protein synthesis, attaches an amino acid, the building block, to its carrier tRNA
- Oxidative stress
- A state in which reactive oxygen species and similar molecules have increased excessively, making cells more easily damaged
- Angiogenesis
- The process by which new blood vessels branch off and grow from existing ones
- Module
- A compact structural unit within a protein, made up of about 10 to 40 amino acids
NewsLab news
Project Assistant Professor Yokozawa received the Young Investigator Excellent Presentation Award at the annual meeting of the Japanese Biochemical Society
A review article on high-affinity tryptophan transport in human cells was published in Biochemical Society Transactions
ResearchResearch themes
The lab's research rests on two pillars: discovering new functions of natural proteins involved in disease and elucidating the mechanisms behind them, and creating new artificial proteins with superior functions by making use of the modular structure of proteins.
*Illustrative imageNew functions of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases
The lab discovered that TyrRS and TrpRS, enzymes that function in protein synthesis, take on different functions when part of the protein is cleaved off. A TyrRS fragment promotes angiogenesis, whereas a TrpRS fragment inhibits it. The lab is investigating further new functions of these enzymes and the mechanisms behind them.
*Illustrative imageNeuroglobin, a globin in the brain
Neuroglobin, found in neurons, protects them from death caused by oxidative stress. The lab has shown that under oxidative stress, neuroglobin undergoes a major change in shape and binds to proteins involved in signal transduction, which suppresses cell death.
*Illustrative imageCreating new proteins by module substitution
The lab creates artificial proteins with new functions by swapping modules, the small structural units that make up a protein. It is working to create proteins that can artificially control cell proliferation, differentiation, cell death, aging, and other processes.
MembersFaculty
The Wakasugi Lab's members consist of faculty, graduate research students, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorKeisuke WakasugiPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorTakumi Yokozawa
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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: “Angiogenesis medical animation still” www.scientificanimations.com / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- New functions of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: “Scheme of transfer RNA (tRNA) charged with an amino acid” OpenStax (Rice University) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Neuroglobin, a globin in the brain: “Cortical Neurons, stained” Ns takes photos / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Creating new proteins by module substitution: “Exon Shuffling” Kiashams / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yoshimoto Lab): “DNA double helix 45” Jerome Walker,Dennis Myts / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Sato Lab): “Green fluorescent protein (GFP) in Eppendorf Tubes” Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Arai Lab): “Myoglobin” AzaToth / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kanoh Lab): “HumanChromosomesChromomycinA3” Steffen Dietzel / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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