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Yuasa Lab
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A bioorganic chemistry lab that creates molecules that control the functions of biomolecules with light.
AboutAbout the lab
Bioorganic chemistry built on photophysics and photochemistry.
Yuasa Lab develops functional molecules using organic chemistry, aiming to control the functions of biomolecules with light.
The lab creates molecules that combine light-responsive molecules with biomolecules such as sugars, lipids, nucleic acids, and peptides.
Through original molecular design and elucidation of how light acts on molecules, the lab produces light-responsive molecules never seen before.
The lab applies this technology to the development of cancer therapies that are minimally invasive with few side effects, and to the development of molecular probes.
Key terms
- Photosensitizer
- A molecule that absorbs light and converts surrounding oxygen into a more reactive form. It is used in photodynamic therapy
- Photodynamic therapy
- A treatment in which a photosensitizer is introduced into the body and cancer cells are destroyed only where light is applied. It is already used clinically
- Upconversion nanoparticle
- A very small particle that absorbs near-infrared light and emits it as visible light, which has a shorter wavelength
NewsLab news
Assistant Professor Kanamori won the Ohsumi Life Science Research Society Encouragement Award
A paper on the photooxidation of DNA was published in Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett.
A paper on a molecule that controls photoimmunity, from joint research with Kanazawa University, was published
ResearchResearch themes
Aiming to control the functions of biomolecules with light, the lab develops light-responsive molecules and functional molecules made of sugars, lipids, nucleic acids, and peptides. Building on organic chemistry, the lab handles everything itself, from molecular design using photophysical chemistry and computational chemistry to synthesis and evaluation of properties.
*Illustrative imageFunctional Sugar Derivatives
The lab found that thiosugars, in which the oxygen atom in the ring is replaced with sulfur, show high inhibitory activity while retaining the structure and recognition ability of the sugar. It has also developed “hinge sugars,” molecular devices that move like a hinge in response to metal ions.
*Illustrative imagePhotodynamic Therapy Using Near-Infrared Light
A challenge of photodynamic therapy is that the light currently used does not easily reach deep into tissue. The lab is developing a therapy that uses upconversion nanoparticles, which convert near-infrared light, which penetrates deeper, into visible light.
*Illustrative imageSubstances That Show Phosphorescence at Room Temperature
The lab was the first to find that crystals of simple organic compounds such as isophthalic acid show phosphorescence at room temperature. It has studied the mechanism of this luminescence in detail and applies the knowledge gained to the development of its own photosensitizers.
*Illustrative imageSmall, Highly Efficient Photosensitizers
Commercially available photosensitizers have large molecular weights and take time to leave the body, so patients must avoid light. The lab creates small, highly efficient photosensitizers with its own design and attaches glucose to them so that cancer cells take them up.
MembersFaculty
Yuasa Lab's members consist of faculty and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorYuasa HideyaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorTakashi KanamoriPublications ↗
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: “Dispersion of White Light Through a Prism” Aligatorigiganti / CC0 (cropped)
- Functional Sugar Derivatives: “Beta-D-glucose-from-xtal-3D-balls” Ben Mills / Public domain (cropped)
- Photodynamic Therapy Using Near-Infrared Light: “TEM image of typical upconversion nanocrystals” JoeyChenNUS111 / CC0 (cropped)
- Substances That Show Phosphorescence at Room Temperature: “Acetylsalicylic acid, substance photo” Rillke / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Small, Highly Efficient Photosensitizers: “Photosensitizer molecules” Caetanosabino / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Masaki Lab): “DNA Helix CPK” Ude / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kawai Lab): “Fluorescent minerals hg” Hannes Grobe/AWI / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Seio Lab): “Синтезатор олигонуклеотидов колоночный” Mfomich / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Tsutsumi Lab): “PDB 1dng EBI” Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute / Public domain (cropped)
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