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Sezutsu Lab
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A lab that produces pharmaceuticals and silk using genetically modified silkworms.
AboutAbout the lab
Silkworms as protein factories
The Sezutsu Lab studies technologies that use genetically modified silkworms to produce proteins useful for pharmaceuticals and other applications.
The silk thread that silkworms spin to make cocoons is made of protein, which makes silkworms highly efficient protein factories.
The lab is developing technologies that make silkworms produce human collagen, cancer diagnostic reagents, and other proteins in place of silk proteins.
This is a cooperative course of the Department of Integrated Biosciences, run by a lab at NARO (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.
Key terms
- Genetic modification
- A technique that inserts a different gene into an organism to give it traits it did not originally have
- Genome editing
- A technique that cuts and rewrites only a targeted gene sequence using a scissors-like tool
- Wild silk moths
- Moths other than the domestic silkworm that make cocoons, such as saturniid moths. Their silk has distinctive strength and color
ResearchResearch themes
Using silkworm genetic modification and genome editing technologies, the lab researches the production of proteins that serve as raw materials for pharmaceuticals, as well as high-performance silk. It also works on smart sericulture technologies and on the use of silk-spinning insects other than silkworms.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping Super Silkworms
The lab is developing methods to create genetically modified and genome-edited silkworms more easily and efficiently. Making use of genome information, it aims at "insect design": creating "super silkworms," such as silkworms that are resistant to high temperatures and disease.
*Illustrative imageMaking Useful Substances with Silkworms
Using genetically modified silkworms, the lab produces unprecedented high-performance silk and proteins that serve as raw materials for pharmaceuticals. Working with companies, public research institutions, and universities, it aims to bring veterinary and human pharmaceuticals into practical use, following cosmetics and diagnostic reagents.
*Illustrative imageSmart Sericulture and the Use of Wild Silk Moths
The lab aims at mass production of silk through smart sericulture, which incorporates ICT. It has also begun attempts to examine the genes responsible for the distinctive silk spun by wild silk moths, such as those in the family Saturniidae, and to insert them into silkworms so that the silkworms produce silk with the same characteristics.
MembersFaculty
- Visiting ProfessorHideki Sezutsu
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Da Lat - Cocooning frame” P. Hughes / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Developing Super Silkworms: “Larva silk worm” Krish Dulal / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Making Useful Substances with Silkworms: “Silk worm empty cocoons 01” Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Smart Sericulture and the Use of Wild Silk Moths: “Antheraea yamamai - caterpillar 01 (HS)” Harald Süpfle / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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