Yokogawa Takashi
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science
Gifu University
Japan
Biography
Yokogawa Takashi is currently working in Gifu University,Japan. His research work is on protein biosynthesis in cells. In the system, there are a series of complicated reactions in which about 50 RNA molecules and about 50 protein molecules are working in a coordinated manner. However, each reaction can be explained as a genuine chemical reaction. Many reactions of protein synthesis system have common characteristics among Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya, three domains of life, but there are also many different characteristics depending on a domain. My aims of studies are to investigate the differences of the protein synthesis system in detail among domains of life and to construct the artificial hybrid protein synthesis system by combining the good characteristics of each system. The hybrid system make it possible to add a novel function to protein by synthesizing the protein into which a non-canonical amino acid (i.e. not specified in the genetic code) is introduced, or to RNA molecule by adding artificial modifications.
Research Interest
His research interest is on Protein synthesis system, Genetic engineering, RNA technology