Integrative Life Sciences

Multicellular organisms are the life forms wherein the basic unit comprises many cells derived from an egg to form and fulfill the function of a single individual. Each of the cells undergoes differentiation and diversification to fulfill independent roles during the process of ontogeny, and the mutual interaction of these cells (network formation) is the foundation of integrated function as an individual. We aim to clarify the mechanisms by which cell populations (e.g., neural networks) control life phenomena (e.g., brain functions), implementing research and education, making full use of cutting-edge technologies.
Laboratories
Brain and Nervous System
Neuroethology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TANIMOTO Hiromu Associate Professor YAMAGATA Nobuhiro Associate Professor KOGANEZAWA Masayuki |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | The neural foundation of sensory processing and memory and learning, behavioral analysis, neuroanatomy | ||
Molecular Ethology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TAKEUCHI Hideaki Professor (Cross Appointment) KAMIKOUCHI Azusa |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Social recognition, individual recognition, Face recognition, Genome editing, Social brain | ||
Brain Development | |||
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Faculty |
Professor ABE Kentaro Assistant Professor AOKI Sho |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Experience dependent gene regulation, Postnatal skill development, Live imaging, Social interaction, Communication, Song learning, Disease model animals. | ||
Systems Neuroscience | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TSUTSUI Ken-ichiro Assistant Professor OHARA Shinya Assistant Professor NAKAMURA Shinya |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Higher order brain functions, systems neuroscience | ||
Cellular Network
Membrane Trafficking Mechanisms | |||
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Faculty |
Professor FUKUDA Mitsunori Assistant Professor MATSUI Takahide |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Intracellular vesicle transport, melanosome transport, autophagy, secretion,neurotransmitter release, small GTPase Rab | ||
Developmental Dynamics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor SUGIMOTO Asako Associate Professor NIWA Shinsuke (C) Assistant Professor HARUTA Nami |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, Live Imaging | ||
Organelle Pathophysiology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TAGUCHI Tomohiko Assistant Professor MUKAI Kojiro |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Proteome analysis of organelle membrane proteins,Biological reactions that proceed on the cytosolic face of organelles,Organelle cooperation underlying the innate immunity response and inflammation,Development of specific probes for membrane phospholipids | ||
Super-Network Brain Physiology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MATSUI Ko Assistant Professor TSUNEMATSU Tomomi |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Optogenetics, Electrophysiology, Fluorescent live imaging, Acute brain slice, Rodent in vivo optical cell activity manipulation and measurements, Synaptic transmission, Glial cell, Astrocyte, Neuron-glia interactions | ||
Developmental Regulation Network
Germ Cell Development | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MATSUI Yasuhisa Assistant Professor HAYASHI Yohei |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | germ cell, pluripotential stem cell, epigenetic regulation, metabolic regulation | ||
Cancer Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor CHIBA Natsuko Assistant Professor YOSHINO Yuki |
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Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Tumor suppressor, centrosome, DNA damage response, genome integrity | ||
Developmental Neurobiology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor OGURA Toshihiko Lecturer MATSUMOTO Ken Assistant Professor KUBO Atsushi |
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Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Developmental biology, new mechanobiology | ||
Cooperative faculties
Developmental Neuroscience | |||
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Faculty |
Professor OSUMI Noriko |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Brain Development, Transgenerational epigenetis | ||
Molecular Oncology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TANAKA Kozo |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Cell division, Cancer, Aging | ||
Experimental Immunology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TAKAI Toshiyuki |
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Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Immune regulation, receptor, immune disorders | ||
Ecological Developmental Adaptability Life Sciences

The aim of this major is to clarify the generation and mode of life of organisms, the evolution mechanisms that have created these organisms, the role of biological interactions, and the effect of human activity on ecosystems by researching the environmental response of the organisms and the background adaptation mechanisms, through the layers of life phenomena from genes to individuals, groups, and ecosystems. We also aim to educate and foster graduates who fully utilize the cross-sectoral knowledge and understanding obtained through this study.
Laboratories
Biological Dynamics
Plant Development | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KYOZUKA Junko Assistant Professor KOMATSU Aino Assistant Professor MIAO Yiling Assistant Professor SUZUKI Hidemasa |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Plant Architecture, Meristem, growth program | ||
Histogenetic Dynamics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KURANAGA Erina Assistant Professor UMETSU Daiki Assistant Professor SEKINE Sayaka Assistant Professor NINOMIYA Komaki |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | histogenesis, Cell migration, Cell death | ||
Plant Sensory and Developmental Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor HIGASHITANI Atsushi (C) Associate Professor FUJII Nobuharu |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | gravimorphogenesis, gravitropism, hydrotropism, circumnutation, sex expression of flowers in cucurbits | ||
Organ Morphogenesis | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TAMURA Koji Assistant Professor SHIOMI Kozue (C) Assistant Professor UESAKA Masahiro |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Morphogenesis, organ regeneration | ||
Plant Cell Dynamics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor UEDA Minako Assistant Professor KIMATA Yusuke Assistant Professor MATSUMOTO Hikari |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Plant embryogenesis, fertilization, cell polarity, pattern formation, intracellular dynamics, live imaging, transcriptional regulation | ||
Ecological Dynamics
Aquatic Ecology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor URABE Jotaro Assistant Professor MAKINO Wataru |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Animal ecology, Biological interactions, Food web, Population genetics, Lakes and rivers, Coastal ecosystems, Plankton and benthos. | ||
Functional Ecology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor HIKOSAKA Kouki Assistant Professor TOMIMATSU Hajime |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Plant ecophysiology, Plant ecology, Photosynthesis, Environmental adaptation | ||
Evolutionary Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KAWATA Masakado Professor (Cross Appointment) FUJITA Kaori Associate Professor (Cross Appointment) SATO Atsuko |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Evolutionary biology, Ecology | ||
Ecological Integration | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KONDOH Michio Associate Professor SAKAI Satoki Assistant Professor KAWATSU Kazutaka Assistant Professor TANABE Akifumi Assistant Professor SUZUKI-OHNO Yukari Assistant Professor OSADA Yutaka Assistant Professor SHINOHARA |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Structure and dynamics of ecological systems, Plant Evolutionary Ecology, data-driven ecology | ||
Symbiosis Genomics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor SATO Shusei Associate Professor MITSUI Hisayuki Assistant Professor BAMBA Masaru Assistant Professor HASHIMOTO Shun Assistant Professor MUSTAMIN Yusdar |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Analysis of plant-microbe interaction based on genomics approach, Population genomics on environmental interactions | ||
Biodiversity Dynamics
Plant Diversity and Evolution | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MAKI Masayuki Assistant Professor OHYAMA Motonari Assistant Professor ITO Takuro |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Kawauchi | ||
Keywords | Plant diversity, plant evolution, species preservation | ||
Conservation Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor CHIBA Satoshi |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Kawauchi | ||
Keywords | Biodiversity preservation, evolutionary ecology, biogeography | ||
Marine Biodiversity | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KUMANO Gaku Professor KONDO Michio (C) Associate Professor MINOKAWA Takuya Assistant Professor IWASAKI Aiko Assistant Professor MORITA Shumpei |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Asamushi | ||
Keywords | Embryogenesis; Evolution; Morphogenesis; Ascidian; Sea urchin; Phoronid; Jellyfish; Flatworm; Sea snail; Crab; Tissue shaping; Germline development; Micromere; Gene regulatory network; Intertidal biology; Marine ecology; Symbiosis; Population ecology | ||
Eco-Socio Dynamics
Ecosystem Functions | |||
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Faculty |
Visiting Professor TAYASU Ichiro Visiting Associate Professor ISHII Reichiro |
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Campus | Humanity and Nature | ||
Keywords | Environmental change, Biodiversity, Ecosystem servises | ||
Specially-appointed Faculties
Soil Microbiology | |||
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Faculty |
Specially-appointed Professor MINAMISAWA Kiwamu Specially-appointed Assistant Professor ITAKURA Manabu Specially-appointed Assistant Professor FERNANDES SIQUEIRA Arthur Specially-appointed Assistant Professor OHKUBO Satoshi Specially-appointed Assistant Professor KATO Hiromi |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Soil microorganisms, Rhizobia, Endophytes, Rhizosphere microorganisms, Evolutionary genomics | ||
Cooperative faculties
Systems Bioinformatics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor KINOSHITA Kengo |
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Undergrad education |
Engineering | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Genome, Protein, Personalized medicine | ||
Molecular and Chemical Life Science

The aim of this major is to approach essential understanding of life phenomena by clarifying the mechanisms at work in living bodies ranging from low-molecular-weight compounds to highly polymerized compounds such as nucleic acids and proteins. This major proactively incorporates an interdisciplinary approach combining chemistry and biology. We conduct research and impart education aiming to develop a methodology to enable healthy control of life phenomena, using fundamental knowledge obtained at the molecular level.
Laboratories
Chemical Biology
Analytical Bioorganic Chemistry | |||
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Faculty |
Professor ARIMOTO Hirokazu Assistant Professor TAKAHASHI Daiki |
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Undergrad education |
Agriculture | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | chemical biology, autophagy, synthetic organic chemistry | ||
Biostructural Chemistry | |||
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Faculty |
Professor SASAKI Makoto Assistant Professor UMEHARA Atsushi |
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Undergrad education |
Agriculture | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Natural product synthesis, synthetic organic chemistry, structure-activity relationships, function analysis | ||
Bioactive Molecules | |||
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Faculty |
Professor ISHIKAWA Minoru Assistant Professor TOMOSHIGE Shusuke Assistant Professor SATO Shinichi (C) |
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Undergrad education |
Agriculture | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Medicinal chemistry, chemical biology | ||
Molecular and Cellular Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor OHASHI Kazumasa Associate Professor YASUMOTO Ken-ichi Assistant Professor CHIBA Shuhei |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Chemistry | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Mechanobiology, Signal transduction, Cytoskeleton, Stress Response, Imaging | ||
Applied Biological Molecular Science | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TANAKA Yoshikazu Assistant Professor YOKOYAMA Takeshi |
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Undergrad education |
Agriculture | ||
Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | protein, structure analysis, virulence factor, toxin, protein complex, food protein, biomineralization, natural organic compound synthesis enzyme | ||
Molecular and Network Genomics
Microbial Genetics and Evolution | |||
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Faculty |
Professor NAGATA Yuji Associate Professor OTSUBO Yoshiyuki Assistant Professor STARI Leonardo |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Environmental microbiology, genome microbiology, bioremediation of chemical pollutants | ||
Plant Molecular Breeding | |||
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Faculty |
Professor WATANABE Masao Associate Professor KANNO Akira Associate Professor (Cross Appointment) ITO-INABA Yasuko |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Epigenetics, Pollen-stigma interaction, Genomics, Evolutionary developmental biology | ||
Molecular Genetics and Physiology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor HIGASHITANI Atsushi Associate Professor HIDEMA Jun Assistant Professor TERANISHI Mika |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Bioengineering, Genetic diversity and Evolution, Plant-microbe interaction, Repair process, Signal transduction, Stress response | ||
Evolutionary Genomics | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MAKINO Takashi Lecturer YOKOYAMA Ryusuke Assistant Professor BESSHO-UEHARA Kanako Assistant Professor IWASAKI Watal Assistant Professor ICHINOSE Toshiharu (C) |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Biology | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Evolutionary genomics, Evolution of duplicated genes, Comparative genomics, Bioinformatics | ||
Multilevel Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics
Molecular Analysis of Biological Functions | |||
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Faculty |
Professor TAKAHASHI Satoshi Associate Professor KAMAGATA Kiyoto Assistant Professor ITOH Yuji |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Protein dynamics, single molecule biology | ||
Biofunctional Chemistry and Nanobiotechnology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MIZUKAMI Shin Associate Professor MATSUI Toshitaka Assistant Professor KOWADA Toshiyuki |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | Chemical biology, Bioimaging, Photofunctional molecules | ||
Structural Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor INABA Kenji Associate Professor KADOKURA Hiroshi Associate Professor OKUMURA Masaki (C) Assistant Professor WATANABE Satoshi |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | fusion of structural biology and cell biology, protein science, mechanisms of protein quality control, redox, calcium ion, zinc ion | ||
Structural Mechanism Research and Development | |||
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Faculty |
Professor (Cross Appointment) YONEKURA Koji Professor TAKAHASHI Satoshi (C) Associate Professor HAMAGUCHI Tasuku |
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Campus | Katahira | ||
Keywords | High-resolution cryo-EM, Electron 3D crystallography (3D ED / microED), AI data collection, Tomography | ||
Genome Informatics
Omics and Imformatics | |||
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Faculty |
Visiting Professor HIRAKAWA Hideki Visiting Professor IKEDA Kazuki |
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Campus | Kazusa DNA | ||
Keywords | Metabolome analysis, metabolomics, biotechnology, metagenome, gene function analysis, comparative genome analysis, all genome array determination, next-generation sequencer, bioinformatics | ||
Cooperative faculties
Chemical biology of Natural Product | |||
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Faculty |
Professor UEDA Minoru |
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Undergrad education |
Science / Chemistry | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | Natural products chemistry, Chemical biology | ||
Bioorganic Medicinal Chemistry | |||
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Faculty |
Professor DOI Takayuki |
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Undergrad education |
Pharmaceutical | ||
Campus | Aobayama | ||
Keywords | natural product synthesis, design and synthesis of bioactive molecules, molecular probe synthesis | ||
Redox Biology | |||
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Faculty |
Professor MOTOHASHI Hozumi |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | KEAP1-NRF2 system, transcriptional regulation, oxidative stress, mitochondria, sulfur metabolism, aging, inflammation, macrophage | ||
Cellular Function | |||
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Faculty |
Professor NAKAYAMA Keiko |
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Undergrad education |
Medicine | ||
Campus | Seiryo | ||
Keywords | Cell cycle, Oncogenesis, Next generation sequencer, Genetically engineered mouse, Protein chemistry, Cell biology | ||