CLS

Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology

東京工業大学
科学技術創成研究院
化学生命科学研究所

LAST UPDATE 2020/06/10

  • 研究者氏名
    Researcher Name

    朱博　Bo ZHU
    助教　Assistant Professor

  • 所属
    Professional Affiliation

    東京工業大学科学技術創成研究院化学生命科学研究所
    Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology

    分子生命化学領域
    Molecular bioscience

  • 研究キーワード
    Research Keywords

    蛋白質工学
    高速分子進化工学
    無細胞蛋白質合成
    Protein engineering
    In vitro directed evolution
    Cell-free protein synthesis
研究テーマ
Research Subject
分子ディスプレイ法を用いた機能性タンパク質のエンジニアリングと評価
Engineering and profiling of functional proteins via biomolecular display technologies

研究の背景 Background

Functional proteins, including enzymes, antibodies, biosensors, regulatory factors, etc., play essential roles in living organisms. Many of these proteins have been or have the potential to be utilized in the chemical and food industry [1], diagnostics [2-4] (Fig. 1), medical treatment, and bioremediation. The biomolecular display technologies could serve as rapid and cost-efficient tools for better understanding, improving, and creating these functional proteins. The powerful in vitro display technologies I have been working on have their unique advantages in protein/peptide-related research. The phage display [3] or mRNA display (Fig. 2) can handle a million to trillion-level library and do a great job of finding the novel targets of interest and describing the fitness landscape of a selected function. The microbead display [5] (Fig. 3) performs better in evolving the existing functions in terms of substrate affinity and turnover.

研究の目標 Outcome

A synergetic effect is expected when different display technologies and machine learning work in a consecutive or feedback manner. The primary focus of my current research is on developing versatile research platforms using phage/mRNA display, microbead display, and machine learning, and the applications on functional antibody conjugate engineering, enzyme engineering, novel enzyme discovery, and fitness landscape profiling.

研究図Research Figure

Fig. 1. Example of a functional antibody conjugate working as immunosensor (Quenchbody) for SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection [2]. Ag, antigen.

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of mRNA display. P in circle indicates a puromycin.

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of microbead display [5]. POI, protein of interest; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

文献 / Publications

[1] Biosens. Bioelectron., 219, 114793 (2023); [2] Analyst, 147, 4971-4979 (2022); [3] Sci. Rep., 12, 15496 (2022); [4] Biochemistry, 62, 309-317 (2023); [5] PLoS ONE, 10, e0127479 (2015); [6] Analyst, 148, 1422-1429 (2023).