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Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry Lab
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The lab pioneers new reactions that chemically transform proteins in water exactly as intended.
AboutAbout the lab
Freely transforming biomolecules chemically.
The Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry Lab studies new synthetic chemistry technologies that freely transform biomolecules such as proteins chemically.
Organic chemistry has developed as a discipline for making substances in a test tube, but synthetic chemistry that targets peptides, proteins, and cells is still immature.
The lab aims to discover new methods of molecular activation that work under the conditions in which biomolecules function (neutral pH, in water, at room temperature), and to chemically modify proteins at will.
The research is carried out with a focus on the unique reactivity of molecules the lab designs itself.
Key terms
- Chemical modification
- Attaching another chemical component to a specific site on a molecule to change its properties or functions
- Chemoselective
- Describes a reaction that occurs only at the intended part of a molecule that has many different parts
- Natural amino acids
- The roughly 20 kinds of amino acids that make up the proteins of living organisms. Their order is determined by genetic information
NewsLab news
A master's student received a Student Excellent Presentation Award at the 146th Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
A student's paper was published in ChemBioChem
A student received the President's Award for Academic Research Students for fiscal year 2025 (Reiwa 7)
A student received an Excellent Presentation Award at the undergraduate thesis presentation session
A paper on cycloaddition reactions of isatogens was published in Tetrahedron Letters
ResearchResearch themes
The lab explores new reactivity for freely transforming biomolecules, including proteins, chemically at neutral pH, in water, and at room temperature. Based on the reactions it discovers, the lab works on creating peptides and proteins with new structures and on building tools useful for biological research.
*Illustrative imageNew reactivity for transforming proteins
The lab designs chemical species that carry out only the intended reaction, chemoselectively, on proteins bearing a variety of functional groups. It is investigating ways to generate these species at neutral pH, in water, and at room temperature.
*Illustrative imageHighly reactive chemical space on proteins
The lab is developing methods to create highly reactive sites on proteins using only the natural amino acids that can be encoded by genes. The goal is to enable chemical transformation at any position of any protein.
*Illustrative imagePeptides and proteins with new structures
Using the reactive species and highly reactive chemical space it has developed, the lab creates peptides and proteins with unprecedented structures (New Modalities) and explores their functions.
*Illustrative imageTools for biochemical research
Based on its protein chemical transformation technology, the lab develops observation, analysis, and function-control methods useful for biological research, such as methods for selectively chemically labeling a target protein and methods for bringing out new functions through chemical modification.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry Lab are faculty and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorKenzo Kenzo
- Assistant ProfessorAkitomo Kasahara
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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: “Molecular model of the pre-pore form of a MACPF protein based upon the structure of pneunolysin” Jcwhizz at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- New reactivity for transforming proteins: “PutSampleRotaryEvaporator” Walkerma / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Highly reactive chemical space on proteins: “Protein Crystal Structure of the human Sec23a-24a heterodimer, complexed with the SNARE protein Sec22b PDB 2nup” Emw / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Peptides and proteins with new structures: “PDB 1dn3 EBI” Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute / Public domain (cropped)
- Tools for biochemical research: “SK8-18-2 human derived cells, fluorescence microscopy ( )” ZEISS Microscopy from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (薬化学): “Student in University of Washington chemistry laboratory , ca 1925 (MOHAI 6219)” Webster & Stevens / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (天然物創薬化学): “Picture from an organic chemistry laboratory” Sil.d / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (分子機能化学): “Molecular Modeling” derivative work: Dhatfield (talk) MM_PEF.svg: Edboas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (薬品物理化学): “TMEM171 Structure Model” Bauma319 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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