Director: Jun Kudo (Professor, School of Medicine)
Main Campus: Shinanomachi
Center Overview
The Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, made significant contributions to the International Human Genome Project. During this time, it also discovered numerous genes related to diseases such as Parkinson's disease, glaucoma, hearing loss, and autoimmune disorders, as well as many biologically interesting gene families like Argonaute, YPEL, KAP, and SGSM. The GSP Center was established as a center of the Keio Advanced Research Centers (KARC) at Keio University to further advance this diverse research. The GSP Center promotes research in the fields of basic genomic science and applied medical science, with expectations of unexpected new discoveries through functional studies of novel genes and proteins and comprehensive genomic analysis of various organisms. Additionally, it collaborates with the Advanced Science Research Laboratory of Toagosei Co., Ltd. on a project to create completely new functional peptides with "super powers" as pharmaceuticals by exploring biological genome information from new perspectives and designing natural or artificial peptides for various purposes.
Keywords and Main Research Themes
Genome, DNA, gene, peptide, drug discovery
2017 Business Report
■ Implementation of the Business Plan for the Fiscal Year, Research Results, and Degree of Achievement
Although the period is short, ending at the end of May, the following research will be continued. Regarding the "Genome Decoding Project," we will continue the molecular and cell biological functional analysis of the "Kaonashi (faceless) gene" whose function is unknown. We will also continue to develop methods for detecting high polymorphism in proteins with domain repeat structures and proceed with genetic analysis.
"Peptidome Drug Discovery Project"
We will continue to analyze the cell membrane permeation mechanism of cell-penetrating peptides cored on the nucleolar localization signal region of LIM kinase 2, and the cell proliferation-promoting function of these peptides. Furthermore, aiming for application in DDS (Drug Delivery System), we will continue research on cancer cell-selective cell-penetrating peptides, cancer stem cell-selective cell-penetrating peptides, and BBB (Blood-Brain Barrier)-penetrating peptides, as well as basic research into peptide-based gene therapy.
■ Number of Published Papers (with names of major journals), Number of Conference Presentations (domestic/international), and Social Contributions such as Events (date, location)
Nothing to report.
■ Special Achievements through Center Activities
Nothing to report.
Project Members
Principal Investigator
Jun Kudo
Professor (Non-tenured, School of Medicine)Collaborative Research ResourcesYosuke Osawa
Project Assistant Professor (Non-tenured) (Research) (Part-time)Collaborative Research Resources