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Kitaguchi Lab
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The lab develops biosensors that see, measure, and manipulate molecules.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating molecular machines that see, measure, and manipulate
The Kitaguchi Lab specializes in bioimaging and analytical chemistry and develops biosensors with original operating principles.
By freely combining molecular biology and chemical biology approaches, the lab builds sensors from fluorescent proteins, antibodies, and enzymes.
Going beyond visualization and measurement, the lab extends this work to the creation of molecular machines with unique functions.
Its goal is to be able to see anything and measure anything.
Key terms
- Fluorescent protein
- A protein derived from jellyfish or corals that can emit light by itself without any added dye
- Chromophore
- The part at the center of a fluorescent protein that is the source of light emission. It is formed from three amino acids
- FRET
- A phenomenon in which energy transfers between two fluorescent dyes that are close together, changing the color of the emitted light
NewsLab news
A master's student won the Outstanding Master's Thesis Presentation Award
A master's student won a Rising Star Award at the Young Researchers' Meeting on Biotechnology
Associate Professor Kitaguchi won the Teshima Seiichi Memorial Research Award (Invention Award)
An undergraduate student won the Outstanding Presentation Award for Bachelor's Thesis Research
A paper on a quantitative ATP sensor was published in Nature Communications, with a press release
ResearchResearch themes
Through protein engineering, the lab creates tools that revolutionize bioimaging and immunoassays. Going beyond visualization and measurement, it also works on developing technologies to manipulate cell functions with light and molecules.
*Illustrative imageSeeing with fluorescent proteins
The lab develops sensors that exploit the light-emitting property of fluorescent proteins derived from jellyfish and corals. With an optical microscope, these sensors make it possible to visualize the movement and changes in the amount of genes, proteins, ions, and metabolites in living cells.
*Illustrative imageMolecular design of sensors
A fluorescent protein has a chromophore at the center of a barrel-shaped β-barrel structure. FRET-type sensors, which use two colors, read concentration from changes in color, while single-fluorescent-protein sensors read it from changes in fluorescence intensity. The lab designs each type according to its purpose.
*Illustrative imageExpanding fluorescent colors for multicolor imaging
Because single-fluorescent-protein sensors measure by the intensity of a single color, multiple molecules can be detected simultaneously in different colors, allowing the functional relationships between molecules to be analyzed within the same cell. The lab is taking on the challenge of multicolor sensors for molecules involved in intracellular signaling and energy metabolism.
*Illustrative imageUsing antibodies as sensors
Conventional sensors use known binding proteins as the part that recognizes the target molecule, so sensors could not be made for molecules whose binding proteins are unknown. The lab is developing "Flashbody," which uses antibodies that recognize a wide variety of antigens so that any molecule can be detected.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Kitaguchi Lab consist of faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, research students, and secretaries.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorTetsuya Kitaguchi
- Assistant ProfessorTakanobu YasudaPublications ↗
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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: “Crystal Jelly ("Aequorea Victoria"), Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California, USA” Jim G from Silicon Valley, CA, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Seeing with fluorescent proteins: “Synapsin and CamK2 positive neurons” ManuelSchottdorf / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Molecular design of sensors: “1xa9” Deposition authors: Remington, S.J., Wachter, R.M., Yarbrough, D.K., Branchaud, B., Anderson, D.C., Kallio, K., Lukyanov, K.A.; visualization author: User:Astrojan / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Expanding fluorescent colors for multicolor imaging: “Yeast membrane proteins” Masur / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Using antibodies as sensors: “Structure of the intact human IgG B12 antibody (PDB 1hzh)” Elisa Fadda / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (神谷研究室): “Fluorescence rainbow” Maxim Bilovitskiy / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (小畠・三重研究室): “1RRX pdb group” Christopher King / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (関研究室): “NIST Membrane Model ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (金原研究室): “Lipid Bilayer” US gov / Public domain (cropped)
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