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Food Engineering Lab (Marine Resource Development Engineering Division)
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A lab that extracts useful components from unused seaweeds and fishery products.
AboutAbout the lab
Turning discarded marine resources into valuable materials.
The Food Engineering Lab studies technologies for finding and using useful components in unused fishery products and in by-products generated during processing.
By clarifying the amounts, structures, and functions of these components, and by developing methods such as extraction and purification, the lab aims to use fishery products without generating waste.
In particular, the lab focuses on dulse, a red alga that grows thickly on the ropes used for kelp farming in Hakodate, and investigates its nutritional components, health-related effects, and uses.
Developing genome editing methods for seaweed is also one of the lab's research goals.
Key terms
- Red algae
- A group of seaweeds characterized by their red color. Nori is one of them, and it is rich in protein.
- Oligosaccharide
- A molecule made of a few sugars linked together. Some serve as food for bifidobacteria in the gut.
- Peptide
- A chain of several amino acids linked together. Peptides are produced when proteins are broken down.
ResearchResearch themes
It has become clear that red algae from northern seas, such as dulse, which has long been removed as a nuisance in kelp farming, are rich in useful components. The lab conducts research aimed at developing future food sources and food materials that promote human health.
*Illustrative imageHealth functions of red algal proteins
The lab focuses on phycobiliproteins, which give red algae their red color, and searches for components that are useful for human health. It has confirmed antioxidant activity and an effect that suppresses increases in blood pressure.
*Illustrative imageMaking oligosaccharides from dulse
Xylan, a polysaccharide abundant in dulse, has a different structure from that of land plants. By breaking it down with enzymes, the lab produced oligosaccharides specific to dulse and found that they selectively promote the growth of bifidobacteria.
*Illustrative imageEnzymes for efficient oligosaccharide production
The lab isolated genes for xylan-degrading enzymes from actinomycetes and had E. coli produce the enzymes. By combining two enzymes, it made it possible to efficiently produce the oligosaccharides characteristic of dulse.
*Illustrative imagePeptides derived from nori proteins
The lab broke down proteins from Uppurui-nori, a red alga used as a raw material for nori products, and searched for peptides that inhibit the activity of an enzyme involved in raising blood pressure. It found strong activity in peptides whose activity had not been known before.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorHideki Kishimura
- Associate ProfessorYuya Kumagai
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: “Palmeria palmata” Cwmhiraeth / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Health functions of red algal proteins: “Red seaweed, South East Bay, Three Kings Islands PA111328” Peter Southwood / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Making oligosaccharides from dulse: “Dulse seaweed” secretlondon123 / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Enzymes for efficient oligosaccharide production: “Streptomyces hygroscopicus” Snuupo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Peptides derived from nori proteins: “Grilled nori (from Sanbanze, Fukuda Nori Shop, Ichikawa) 20230204-P1022306” くろふね / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Chemical Engineering Lab (Marine Resource Development Engineering Division)): “Millions of scallop shells - geograph.org.uk - 1438086” John Allan / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Functional Biology Lab (Marine Resource Development Engineering Division)): “Oncorhynchus masou masou-2” Apple2000 / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Chemistry Lab (Division of Marine Food Science)): “Japan, Hokkaido, drying kelp 1” Marie-Sophie Mejan / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Function Chemistry Lab (Division of Marine Food Science)): “Japanese breakfast dsc04763” David Monniaux / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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