Department of Structural Biology

Department

Professor Yuriko Yamagata
Associate Professor Shinji Ikemizu
Assistant Professor Teruya Nakamura

Research themes

[Names and Summaries of Research Projects]

  1. I. Structural Biology of Nucleic Acid Related Proteins
  2. II. Structural Biology of Immune responses
  3. III. Structural Biology of Signal Transduction
  4. IV. Structural Biology for Drug Design and Development

Biological phenomena are accomplished via the interactions between biomolecules or between biomolecules and bioactive molecules and the reactions between them. Our research department aims to understand the biological process based on the three-dimensional structures of biomacromolecules at an atomic level, and applying these findings to drug discovery. We use x-ray crystallography that is the most powerful method to determine their macromolecular structures. The targets of our research are proteins that interact with DNA, RNA, and nucleotides, proteins involved in immune responses, and proteins involved in signal transduction. Up to date, we have determined many protein structures as shown in figures and understood the structural basis of protein function.