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Bioregulation Chemistry Lab
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A lab that explores the mechanisms of life by using synthetic organic molecules to study mitochondrial enzymes and scorpion venom.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating the molecules that drive life.
The Bioregulation Chemistry Lab isolates and synthesizes strongly bioactive organic compounds with its own original approaches, and uses them to clarify biological phenomena chemically.
The lab draws on chemical and biological methods in balance.
Its two major themes are the enzymes responsible for energy metabolism in mitochondria and the peptides found in scorpion and spider venoms.
Undergraduates are assigned to the lab in their fourth year (the graduate program is the Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture).
Key terms
- Respiratory chain enzymes
- A group of enzymes in mitochondria that carry out the process of making ATP, the cell's energy molecule, from nutrients
- Ubiquinone
- A molecule also called coenzyme Q. It is essential for producing ATP in mitochondria
- Peptide
- A short chain of several linked amino acids. Some are components of venoms
ResearchResearch themes
The research consists of two broad themes: work that uses inhibitor molecules to clarify the structure and function of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes (Professor Murai), and a search for bioactive peptides in venomous animals (Associate Professor Miyashita).
*Illustrative imageProbing how respiratory chain enzymes work with inhibitors
Targeting the first enzyme of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (complex I) and others, the lab uses molecules made with organic chemistry methods such as photoaffinity labeling to investigate where quinones react and how inhibitors act.
*Illustrative imageSearching for new roles of ubiquinone
Using budding yeast as a model, the lab searches with artificially synthesized molecules for new proteins that use ubiquinone, which is essential for ATP synthesis. It also aims to clarify how ubiquinone is transported within the cell.
*Illustrative imageInsecticidal peptides from scorpion venom
From the venoms of the Yaeyama scorpion and the mottled scorpion, which live in Japan, the lab has found many peptide toxins that act selectively on insects. It chemically synthesizes these toxins and aims to clarify the structures required for their activity.
*Illustrative imageInvestigating spider venom
The venoms of the more than 50,000 spider species in the world have not yet been studied sufficiently. The lab searches for insecticidal peptides in the venoms of familiar spiders in Japan and of spiders from Egypt.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Bioregulation Chemistry Lab consist of faculty, administrative assistants, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMasatoshi Murai
- Associate ProfessorMasahiro Miyashita
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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: “Mitochondria 5 -- Smart-Servier” Laboratoires Servier / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Probing how respiratory chain enzymes work with inhibitors: “144-ComplexI 3m9s 3rko” David Goodsell & RCSB Protein Data Bank / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Searching for new roles of ubiquinone: “Levain saccharomyces cerevisiae 2” Olivier Lemoine (https://Photo-Terroir.fr) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Insecticidal peptides from scorpion venom: “Liocheles waigiensis side view” Mark Marathon / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Investigating spider venom: “Orb Web Spider (Araneidae) yellow underside ( )” Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Chemical Ecology Lab): “A green plant bug feeds on a yellow wildflower in the white drin” Julianruizp / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biomacromolecular Chemistry Lab): “Ribbon view of the Orange Carotenoid Protein Structure 1M98” . The original uploader was Melnicki at English Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Cell Biochemistry Lab): “Wavy collagen” PW31 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Molecular Biology (Gene Function and Expression) Lab): “Marchantia polymorpha HC1” Holger Casselmann / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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