RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences Drug Discovery Structural Biology Platform Unit
Unit Leader: Mikako Shirouzu (Ph.D.)
Research Summary
The RIKEN Program for Drug Discovery and Medical Technology (DMP) aims to create innovative candidate drugs and enabling technologies for drug discovery and medical treatment. As part of this program, our unit is conducting protein and antibody production, biophysical evaluation of candidate compounds and antibodies, and structural analysis of their complexes. Through detailed molecular characterization using physical chemistry and structural biology approaches, we contribute to the rational optimization of antibody therapeutics and small-molecule drug candidates. Our expertise in protein science and structural biology provides essential support for drug discovery and development promoted by DMP.
Main Research Fields
- Biological Sciences
Related Research Fields
- Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
Keywords
- Antibody production
- Protein preparation
- Protein strucutural analysis
Selected Publications
- 1.
Harada, M., Matsumoto, T., Yamamoto, M., Goda, J., Idei, A., Ohtaki, K., Kojima, N., Yoneda, N., Miyauchi, K., Katsura, K., Ikeda, M., Hanada, K., Ishizuka-Katsura, Y., Hosaka, T., Hisano, T., Kaizuka, T., Yamamoto, T., Matsuda, M., Nakayama, M., Sugimoto-Ishige, A., Sakuma, M., Hashimoto, R., Takayama, K., Nakayama, M., Nguyen, CT., Ishigaki, H., Itoh, Y., Hashizume, Y., Yoshida, M., Kawaguchi, Y., Takeda, M., Koseki, H., Shirouzu, M., Inoue, JI., S and Saito, T.:
"Monoclonal antibodies against human TMPRSS2 prevent infection by any SARS-CoV-2 variant”
iScience. 28(9), 113424. (2025). - 2.
Hou, J., Uejima, T., Tanaka, M., Son, Y. L., Hanada, K., Kukimoto-Niino, M., Yamaguchi, S., Hashimoto, S., Yokoyama, S., Takemori, T., Saito, T., Shirouzu, M., and Kondo, T.:
"EVA1-antibody drug conjugate is a new therapeutic strategy for eliminating glioblastoma-initiating cells"
Neuro-oncol. 27(3), 682–694. (2024). - 3.
Suzuki, M., Uchibori, K., Oh-hara, T., Nomura, Y., Suzuki, R., Takemoto, A., Araki, M., Matsumoto, S., Sagae, Y., Kukimoto-Niino, M., Kawase, Y., Shirouzu, M., Okuno, Y., Nishio, M., Fujita, N., and Katayama, R.:
"A macrocyclic kinase inhibitor overcomes triple resistant mutations in EGFR-positive lung cancer"
npj Precision Oncology 8(1), 46. (2024). - 4.
Takeshita, M., Fukuyama, H., Kamada, K., Matsumoto, T., Makino-Okamura, C., Lin, Q., Sakuma, M., Kawahara, E., Yamazaki, I., Uchikubo-Kamo, T., Tomabechi, Y., Hanada, K., Hisano, T., Moriyama, S., Takahashi, Y., Ito, M., Imai, M., Maemura, T., Furusawa, Y., Yamayoshi, S., Kawaoka, Y., Shirouzu, M., Ishii, M., Saya, H., Kondo, Y., Kaneko, Y., Suzuki, K., Fukunaga, K., Takeuchi, T., and the Keio Donner Project:
"Potent neutralizing broad-spectrum antibody against SARS-CoV-2 generated from dual-antigen-specific B cells from convalescents”
iScience. 26(6), 106955. (2023). - 5.
Takase, S., Hiroyama, T., Shirai, F., Maemoto, Y., Nakata, A., Arata, M., Matsuoka, S., Sonoda, T., Niwa, H., Sato, S., Umehara, T., Shirouzu, M., Nishigaya, Y., Sumiya, T., Hashimoto, N., Namie, R., Usui, M., Ohishi, T., Ohba, S., Kawada, M., Hayashi, Y., Harada, H., Yamaguchi, T., Shinkai, Y., Nakamura, Y., Yoshida, M., and Ito, A.:
"A specific G9a inhibitor unveils BGLT3 lncRNA as a universal mediator of chemically induced fetal globin gene expression"
Nat. Commun. 14(1), 23. (2023). - 6.
Takemori, T., Sugimoto-Ishige, A., Nishitsuji, H., Futamura, Y., Harada, M., Kimura-Someya, T., Matsumoto, T., Honma, T., Tanaka, M., Yaguchi, M., Isono, K., Koseki, H., Osada, H., Miki, D., Saito, T., Tanaka, T., Fukami, T., Goto, T., Shirouzu, M., Shimotohno, K., and Chayama, K.:
"Establishment of a Monoclonal Antibody against Human NTCP That Blocks Hepatitis B Virus Infection”
J Virol. 96(5), e0168621. (2022). - 7.
Mizuta, H., Okada, K., Araki, M., Adachi, J., Takemoto, A., Kutkowska, J., Maruyama, K., Yanagitani, N., Oh-Hara, T., Watanabe, K., Tamai, K., Friboulet, L., Katayama, K., Ma, B., Sasakura, Y., Sagae, Y., Kukimoto-Niino, M., Shirouzu, M., Takagi, S., Simizu, S., Nishio, M., Okuno, Y., Fujita, N., and Katayama, R.:
"Gilteritinib overcomes lorlatinib resistance in ALK-rearranged cancer”
Nat Commun. 12(1), 1261. (2021). - 8.
Zyryanova, AF., Kashiwagi, K., Rato, C., Harding, HP., Crespillo-Casado, A., Perera, LA., Sakamoto, A., Nishimoto, M., Yonemochi, M., Shirouzu, M., Ito, T., and Ron D.:
"ISRIB Blunts the Integrated Stress Response by Allosterically Antagonising the Inhibitory Effect of Phosphorylated eIF2 on eIF2B”
Mol Cell. 81(1), 88-103.e6. (2021). - 9.
Kobayashi, H., Hatakeyama, H., Nishimura, H., Yokota, M., Suzuki, S., Tomabechi, Y., Shirouzu, M., Osada, H., Mimaki, M., Goto, YI., and Yoshida, M.:
"Chemical reversal of abnormalities in cells carrying mitochondrial DNA mutations”
Nat Chem Biol 17(3), 335-343. (2021). - 10.
Yasukawa, M., Ando, Y., Yamashita, T., Matsuda, Y., Shoji, S., Morioka, M., Kawaji, H., Shiozawa, K., Machitani, M., Abe, T., Yamada, S., Kaneko, M. K., Kato, Y., Furuta, Y., Kondo, T., Shirouzu, M., Hayashizaki, Y., Kaneko, S., and Masutomi, K.:
"CDK1 dependent phosphorylation of hTERT contributes to cancer progression"
Nat. Commun. 11(1), 1557. (2020).
Related Links
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Mikako Shirouzu
- Unit Leader
Contact Information
C316 3F Central Research Building,
1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku,
Yokohama, Kanagawa
230-0045, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)45-503-9202
Fax: +81-(0)45-503-9264
Email: mikako.shirouzu@riken.jp
