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Nakao Lab
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The lab searches for drug leads among compounds produced by marine organisms.
AboutAbout the lab
Decoding biological phenomena with marine compounds.
The Nakao Lab studies biological phenomena using natural compounds produced by marine organisms.
Marine invertebrates such as sponges, sea squirts, and bryozoans have yielded many compounds with strong biological activity and unique, diverse structures.
The lab searches for compounds that induce ES cells and iPS cells to differentiate into cardiac muscle and blood vessels.
It also finds compounds that suppress drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria and pathogenic protozoa, with the aim of leading to drug development.
Key terms
- Marine natural products
- Compounds produced by marine organisms. More than 20,000 types have been found so far.
- Biological activity
- The property of acting on the functions of living organisms. Strongly active compounds can become drug candidates.
- Epigenetics
- The mechanism that changes how genes function after the fact, without changing the DNA sequence.
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
Marine invertebrates such as sponges, sea squirts, and bryozoans have yielded many compounds with unique and diverse structures. Because these compounds show strong biological activity, they are expected to serve as a source for drug discovery, and the lab searches among them for useful compounds.
*Illustrative imageCompounds against protozoa and multidrug-resistant bacteria
The lab searches marine invertebrates for compounds that suppress pathogenic bacteria that drugs no longer work against, as well as pathogenic protozoa. Marine natural products have already produced therapeutic drugs, mainly anticancer agents, and are expected to be a source for drug discovery.
*Illustrative imageCompounds that guide cell differentiation
The lab searches for compounds that induce ES cells and iPS cells to differentiate into cardiac muscle and blood vessels. Using natural compounds made by marine organisms as clues, it investigates the mechanisms that determine cell fate.
*Illustrative imageCompounds that control epigenetics
Searching for compounds that regulate epigenetics, which changes how genes function after the fact, is also one of the main themes. Marine natural products are secondary metabolites made by symbiotic microorganisms, so a single animal species can yield a great many compounds.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Nakao Lab consist of faculty, visiting researchers, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorYoichi Nakao
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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: “Mycale laxissima (Strawberry Vase Sponge)” Nhobgood Nick Hobgood / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Compounds against protozoa and multidrug-resistant bacteria: “Antibiotic disk diffusion” Microrao / Public domain (cropped)
- Compounds that guide cell differentiation: “Human induced pluripotent stem cell colony ( )” NIH Image Gallery from Bethesda, Maryland, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Compounds that control epigenetics: “Colonial ascidians at the Muizenberg wrecks P8060321” Peter Southwood / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakata Lab): “Ship in a bottle - geograph.org.uk - 2273412” Steve Fareham / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Imura Lab): “Front of 4th century CE Roman Lycurgus Cup, British Museum (1958,1202.1)” Chappsnet / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakai Lab): “Benzene IBO” Alicesu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yamaguchi Lab): “Chloro complexes of transition metals” Leiem / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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