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Protein Science (Nakajima) Lab
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A lab that searches for rare glycans and their enzymes and uncovers how they work from their structures.
AboutAbout the lab
Finding, solving, and making unknown glycans and enzymes
The Nakajima Lab studies enzymes that act on glycans, using β-1,2-glucan, a unique glycan made of linked glucose units, as its main subject.
The lab searches for enzymes that synthesize or degrade new glycans, solves their three-dimensional structures by X-ray crystallography, and investigates how the enzymes work at the atomic level.
It also synthesizes new glycans with applications in mind and explores the functional properties of those glycans.
Key terms
- Carbohydrate-active enzymes
- A general term for enzymes involved in the synthesis and degradation of glycans. They are classified by similarity of amino acid sequences
- β-1,2-glucan
- A kind of glycan made of linked glucose units. Although it is built from the same glucose as starch and cellulose, it is a rare glycan
- X-ray crystallography
- A method of solving the three-dimensional structure of proteins such as enzymes using X-rays. One of the lab's main techniques
NewsLab news
A paper on the discovery and structural analysis of a transport protein that binds cyclic sugars was published in The FEBS Journal
A student received a poster award at the Japanese Society of Applied Glycoscience 2025 Annual Meeting
A paper on a new type of β-glucosidase that acts on β-1,2-gluco-oligosaccharides was published in Protein Science
A paper reporting the discovery of three new groups of glycoside hydrolases was published in Protein Science
A doctoral student received the PF-UA Student Paper Award
ResearchResearch themes
Many enzymes that act on glycans are thought to be still unknown. Using the rare glycan β-1,2-glucan as its material, the lab searches for new enzymes and works to elucidate their structures and reaction mechanisms.
*Illustrative imageSearching for Unknown Glycans and Enzymes
Glycans can take an enormous variety of chemical structures, so many of the enzymes that synthesize or degrade them are also thought to be still unknown. Rare glycans are hard to obtain as materials, so searching for the enzymes that act on them is not easy.
*Illustrative imageEnzymes for the Rare Glycan β-1,2-Glucan
Starting from the discovery of a β-1,2-glucan synthase, the lab established a method for large-scale synthesis and is searching for related enzymes. For the enzymes it discovers, it carries out X-ray crystallography itself to clarify their molecular mechanisms of action.
*Illustrative imageFinding New Members of the Glycoside Hydrolases
Among carbohydrate-active enzymes, the lab mainly works on glycoside hydrolases (GH enzymes). It believes that enzymes with activities or classifications not yet found are lying dormant in nature, and works to find them.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Nakajima Lab are faculty members and students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorMasahiro Nakajima
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: “Crystallized sugar, multiple crystals and a single crystal grown from seed” Zaereth / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Searching for Unknown Glycans and Enzymes: “Microtiter plate” Jeffrey M. Vinocur / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Enzymes for the Rare Glycan β-1,2-Glucan: “A Hilger and Watts Y290 four-circle X-ray diffractometer” Prof. David J. Watkin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Finding New Members of the Glycoside Hydrolases: “CSIRO ScienceImage 3567 Examining an agar dish for bacterial colonies as part of the bioremediation project” David McClenaghan, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
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