Research

● Development of Diagnostic Device using Exosomal miRNA Biomarkers

(Ongoing under Center of innovation program (COI STREAM) / COINS)

Our group has been developing an innovative cancer diagnostic device that integrates all the steps of time-consuming blood test on a single cartridge, which comprises separation, purification and sensitive detection of biomarkers in the body fluid such as serum or urine. In this development, we have chosen the strategy to use circulating miRNA, stabilized by encapsulation in exosomes, as a cancer biomarker. This will eventually bring innovation to the medical system, enabling secure provision of high-quality, cost-effective medicines to anyone, anytime, and anywhere. In addition, we intend to be a global pioneer in establishing a new medical industry that leads the future of the world’s most aged country, Japan.

 

● Development of Analytical Platform of Nonanoparticles

(Ongoing under the Center of innovation program (COI STREAM) / COINS)

Exosomes are a type of cell-secreted nanovesicles that have received significant attention as promising biomarkers for early detection of intractable diseases such as cancer and for evaluating treatment efficacy. Also, expectations on their therapeutic application such as drug delivery system for nucleic acid–based drugs and regenerative medicine using mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes are now rising. However, it is technologically difficult to analyze or identify a heterogeneous population of particles ranging from several tens to one hundred nanometers, and hence, there is a growing demand for a new analytical method of nanoparticles among researchers working on extracellular vesicles. Our group has been developing an analytical platform for nanoparticles, which allows particle immunoelecrophoresis on a microfluidic chip. The developed platform allows detection of individual nanoparticles or nanovesicles of less than 50 nm in diameter and enables the characterization of nanoparticles based on indexes such as concentration, diameter, zeta potential, and surface antigenicity.

 

● Development of Microarray System for Artificial Molecular Evolution

(Ongoing under RESEARCH COMPLEX Program)

There is a need for improvement of functionality or activity of bio-molecules such as enzymes, antibodies, peptides, and nucleic acids as in the fields of medical/diagnostics, food, energy, and so on. Our group has been developing an artificial molecular evolution system based on high-density microarray platform by integrating the development approach used in evolutionary molecular engineering and microfabrication techniques used in semiconductor industry. This system allow us to screen huge diversity of variant molecules (over several million variants / microarray chip), and provide the strategy for efficient artificial molecular evolution using the spectrum data of variants’ properties obtained from quantitative analysis on microarray platform. Our group is aimed at developing of system, which automatically create desired molecules rapidly on demand.