December 26, 2022
Keio University
Shinshu University
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)
A joint research group—including Naoya Ohara (a second-year student in the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University), Senior Assistant Professor Ryoji Kawakami and Professor Kenji Miyamoto (from the Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology at the same university), Associate Professor Ryoichi Arai (from the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology and Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Shinshu University), and Specially Appointed Associate Professor Naruhiko Adachi (from the Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK))—has developed a technology to control the structural formation of the artificially designed, soccer-ball-shaped, hollow protein nanoparticle TIP60. Focusing on the mechanism by which TIP60 is formed through the self-assembly of 60 molecules, this technology allows the molecules to be freely disassembled and reassembled into their original soccer-ball shape. This enables the encapsulation of substances like DNA within its internal cavity, and it is expected to have future applications, such as for drug capsules.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society on December 21, 2022.
Please see below for the full press release.