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Minami Lab
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A lab that uses the power of enzymes to create natural products that no one has been able to synthesize.
AboutAbout the lab
Surpassing living organisms through the power of chemistry.
The Minami Lab studies natural organic compounds (natural products) with complex structures that living organisms make using enzymes.
The lab aims to develop original strategies for using enzymes to make "uncharted natural products" that no one has been able to synthesize so far.
Its keywords are "make," "investigate," and "design": making molecules with enzymes, investigating how enzymes work, and designing enzymes with new functions.
The lab also actively pursues collaborative, interdisciplinary research with professors at other universities.
Key terms
- Natural product
- An organic compound that a living organism produces itself. Many are used as drugs, such as penicillin, which is made by blue mold
- Designer enzyme
- An enzyme whose function has been reengineered by human hands so that it can carry out a specific chemical reaction
- Radical
- An atom or molecule that has an unpaired electron and is therefore extremely reactive
NewsLab news
Results of collaborative research with in-house researchers accepted by a journal
Information session for chemistry graduate school admissions held. Lab visits are accepted at any time
A student's paper selected as an outstanding paper in Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.
Press release on results of collaborative research with Hokkaido University
Results of collaborative research with Hirosaki University accepted by J. Nat. Prod.
ResearchResearch themes
Living organisms use catalysts called enzymes to synthesize remarkably complex natural organic compounds. By understanding and extending these mechanisms, the lab takes on the challenge of creating "uncharted natural products" that no one has been able to reach before.
*Illustrative imageBiosynthesis of Uncharted Natural Products
The lab has developed biosynthetic methods using biocatalysts that reproduce and control, by human hands, the mechanisms by which organisms make natural products. It also works on putting the natural products it makes to use and clarifying their roles in nature.
*Illustrative imageCreation of Designer Enzymes
Focusing on the unique reactions seen in the biosynthesis of natural products, the lab is developing original methodologies for controlling, by human hands, the functions of enzymes that carry out unusual reactions.
*Illustrative imageUncharted Radical Chemistry
Radical enzymes, which use highly reactive radical species, are sensitive to oxygen and difficult to analyze. The lab prepares these enzymes in their active state in an oxygen-free experimental environment and examines their functions in detail.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Minami Lab are faculty and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorAtsushi MinamiPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorShusuke SatoPublications ↗
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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: “Penicillia on Petri dish” Convallaria majalis / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Biosynthesis of Uncharted Natural Products: “Колонии плесневых грибов на питательной среде” Andrei Trigubovich / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Creation of Designer Enzymes: “CYP4F2 protein structure” Maxim Masiutin / CC0 (cropped)
- Uncharted Radical Chemistry: “Radical SAM Enzyme Mmp10” CuriousKemist / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (大森・安藤研究室): “Coloured column chromatography ( )” Максим Фомич / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (豊田研究室): “Anthracen” H. H. W. Preuß / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (後藤・
小野研究室): “Cucurbit(6)uril-(top)-3D-spacefill” Jynto (talk) / CC0 (cropped) - Related lab (山下・森本研究室): “Gas line IMG 20230205” Jonathansammy / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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