GSP (Genome Super Power) Center

Center Director: Jun Kudo (Professor, School of Medicine)

Campus: Shinanomachi

The Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, has made significant contributions to the international Human Genome Project. During this time, it has 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 including Argonaute, YPEL, KAP, and SGSM. The GSP Center was established as a center of Keio University's Keio Advanced Research Centers (KARC) to further advance this diverse research. The GSP Center promotes research in the fields of basic genomic science and applied medical science, with unexpected new discoveries anticipated through functional studies of novel genes and proteins and comprehensive genomic analysis of various organisms. Additionally, in collaboration with the Advanced Research Institute of Toagosei Co., Ltd., the center is conducting 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.

Genome, DNA, Gene, Peptide, Drug Discovery

■ 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, we will continue to conduct the following research. For the "Genome Decoding Project," we will continue the molecular and cell biological functional analysis of functionally unknown "Kaonashi (faceless) genes." 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 the analysis of the cell membrane penetration mechanism of cell-penetrating peptides centered on the nucleolar localization signal region of LIM kinase 2, and the analysis of the cell proliferation-promoting function of these peptides. Furthermore, aiming for application to 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.

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.