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Akanuma Lab
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The lab reconstructs proteins from 4 billion years ago to create useful enzymes.
AboutAbout the lab
Reconstructing 4-billion-year-old proteins to create useful enzymes
The Akanuma Lab conducts research that uses enzymes and proteins to solve environmental and resource problems.
It uses enzymes from familiar organisms and extremophiles as materials, and also develops artificially engineered enzymes.
The other pillar is research on the origin and early evolution of life, tracing 4 billion years of evolution back from the genes of present-day organisms.
The lab also investigates the Earth's environment when life emerged, and whether life could arise in space.
Key terms
- Enzyme
- A protein that speeds up chemical reactions inside living organisms
- Extremophile
- A microorganism that lives in environments harsh for ordinary organisms, such as high temperature or high pressure
- Astrobiology
- A research field that explores the origin of life and the possibility of life, including beyond Earth
NewsLab news
Review paper on ancestral sequence reconstruction published in the Journal of Molecular Biology
Study reconstructing ancestral enzymes reports that abrupt global cooling drove the evolution of enzymes
Encyclopedia of the Origin of Life, to which Prof. Akanuma contributed as editor and author, published
ResearchResearch themes
The lab's research rests on two pillars: developing enzymes useful to human society, and exploring the origin and early evolution of life. It builds technologies that freely change the properties of enzymes and proteins, aiming to solve environmental and resource problems.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping Useful Enzymes
This is basic research on using enzymes, which are environmentally friendly biocatalysts, for synthesis in the environmental, food, and pharmaceutical fields. The lab is developing enzymes that combine heat resistance with the ability to work at low temperatures, as well as enzymes that degrade plastic.
*Illustrative imageThe Origin and Early Evolution of Life
The lab traces 4 billion years of evolution back from the genes and proteins of present-day organisms, reconstructing the proteins of ancestral organisms to explore what the oldest life on Earth looked like. It also works on astrobiology, including the Earth's environment when life emerged and the assembly of proteins from amino acids that are likely to exist in space.
*Illustrative imageMicrobial Ecosystems
The lab analyzes how microbial communities in water, in soil, and on the skin of animals, including humans, change over time.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Akanuma Lab consist of faculty, education coaches, doctoral and master's students, undergraduates, and e-School lab seminar students.As of 2025
- ProfessorSatoshi Akanuma
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: “Hot spring & thermophiles, Upper Geyser Basin ( )” Yellowstone National Park / Public domain (cropped)
- Developing Useful Enzymes: “Protein Crystal Malic Enzyme” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: “Stromatolithe Paléoarchéen - MNHT.PAL.” Didier Descouens / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Microbial Ecosystems: “Petri dish 2” Drhx / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (八木研究室): “PhylogeneticTree, Woese 1990” Maulucioni / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (太田研究室): “Seawifs global biosphere” Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (平塚研究室): “CSIRO ScienceImage 3830 Tropical rainforest canopy near Cairns QLD” Willem van Aken, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (松本研究室): “Salt Lake City smog haze skyline 01” Eltiempo10 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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