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Applied Microbiology Lab [International Center for Biotechnology]
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The lab studies glycosylation to turn plants and insects into factories for medical proteins.
AboutAbout the lab
Controlling the chains that organisms make to develop new bioreactors.
The Fujiyama Lab regards plants and insects as "protein factories" and conducts research aimed at developing new protein production systems.
Even when organisms are used as bioreactors to make useful substances, simply producing a substance often does not allow it to function in the body. The lab therefore focuses on the "chains that organisms make" and tries to create host organisms capable of good substance production.
Using cultured cells from plants, insects, and animals, the lab examines the structures of glycans attached to medical proteins and develops technologies to change them into the desired structures.
The lab is a cooperating division of the Department of Biotechnology in the Graduate School of Engineering.
Key terms
- Glycan
- A chain in which multiple sugars are linked together. It is involved in cell-to-cell interactions and in regulating the metabolic rate of proteins.
- Bioreactor
- The use of living organisms as a device for making useful substances.
- CHO cells
- Animal cells derived from the ovary of the Chinese hamster. They have long been used to produce medical proteins.
ResearchResearch themes
Many recombinant medical proteins undergo post-translational modification, and simply making the polypeptide chain may not allow them to show their original function. Using cultured cells from plants, insects, and animals as hosts, this lab works on developing technologies to understand and control the glycans attached to proteins.
*Illustrative imageControlling Plant and Insect Glycans
Plants and insects have glycan structures that differ from those of animals, so their proteins are recognized as foreign and broken down in the animal body. The lab therefore studies the enzymes that make glycans, and tries to modify glycan synthesis pathways into the desired form by introducing or disrupting genes.
*Illustrative imageProducing Medical Proteins in Plant Factories
Using transient expression systems in plant cells, the lab works on producing vaccines, antibodies, and medical enzymes, aiming for higher expression, higher quality, and higher added value. It also analyzes the quality and completeness of the proteins it makes, and tries to use the results in the next round of production.
*Illustrative imageControlling Glycans in Cultured Animal Cells
The lab aims to efficiently produce medical proteins such as antibodies in cultured animal cells such as CHO cells. Focusing on glycan structures that affect biological activity, it studies technologies for controlling glycosylation in host cells and culture conditions.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Fujiyama Lab consist of faculty, a Visiting Associate Professor, PhD, master's, and undergraduate students, and visiting researchers and short-term students from overseas.As of 2025
- ProfessorKazuhito Fujiyama
- Associate ProfessorRyo Misaki
- Assistant ProfessorHiroyuki Kajiura
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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: “CSIRO ScienceImage 10928 NCRIS Recombinant Protein Production Facility 01” Morgan Brown, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Controlling Plant and Insect Glycans: “Light microscopy image of Sf9 cells” Anhelina Khrunyk / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Producing Medical Proteins in Plant Factories: “Nicotiana benthamiana” Chandres / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Controlling Glycans in Cultured Animal Cells: “Cho cells adherend1” User:Alcibiades / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Cell Engineering Lab): “Plant tissue culture sample” Syed Sajidul Islam / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Metabolic Information Engineering Lab [Graduate School of Information Science and Technology]): “Yeast culture plate” BMC bildes / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biomaterials Chemistry Lab): “Nanofibrillar cellulose hydrogel” Qspheroid4 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Microbiology Lab [International Center for Biotechnology]): “Hot spring in Yellowstone” Jon Sullivan / Public domain (cropped)
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