Joint-Use Facilities
Center for Biological Resources and Informatics
The Center for Biological Resources and Informatics (Biocenter) was established as a joint-use facility in 2003 based on Gene Research Center (established in 1989), Research Center for Experimental Biology (established in 1994), and Radioisotope Research Center (established in 2001); but in 2011 the center was reorganized again and the Radioisotope Division was separated as Radiation Research and Management Center. The renewed Bio-center consists of Support Division (Section of Gene Experiment and Section of Experimental Biology) and Research Division (Section of Protein Informatics, Section of Genome Informatics, and Section of RNA Informatics). Support Division provides (i) education, training and safety management in the handling of recombinant DNA and experimental animals, (ii) advanced instruments and spaces for recombinant DNA technology and animal experiments, and (iii) maintenance service for laboratory animals and plants. The mission of research division is to carry out leading bioinformatics research on protein, DNA, and RNA in the post sequence era.
Support Division
Section of Gene Experiment
- Associate Prof. Shinji Masuda
- Stress sensing mechanisms of photosynthetic organisms
- Assistant Prof. Mie SHIMOJIMA
- Plant signaling network mediated by membrane lipid-derived signaling molecules
Section of Experimental Biology
- Assistant Prof. Junji HIROTA
- Molecular mechanisms of development of the olfactory system
Research Division
Section of Protein Informatics
- Professor Minoru SAKURAI
- Bioinformatics of the structure-function relationship of proteins
- Assistant Prof. Tadaomi FURUTA
- Computational biophysics study of protein structure, function, and dynamics
- Assistant Prof. Kazunori TACHIBANA
- Cell and developmental biology of marine inverte brates and starfish genome project
Section of Genome Informatics
- Professor Hiroyuki OHTA
- Elucidation of chloroplast function and evolution with comparative genomics and transcriptomics
Section of RNA Informatics
- Professor Takashi GOJOBORI
- Associate Prof. Yasunori AIZAWA
- Retrotransposon, DNA methylation, Human intergenic RNA, intrinsically disordered protein, Signal transduction
Light-dependent biofilm formation (right) of the purple bacterium R. palustris (left)
Imaging of the mouse olfactory system using gene-targeting (left) and fluorescent probe (right) techniques
The three dimensional structure of photoactive yellow protein (left) and its molecular motion (right)
Pronuclear fusion process (upper) progresses in parallel with the first embryonic cell cycle (lower) in starfish.
Endowed Research Section
Dainichiseika-Donated Chair of Research Division for Innovative Biomaterials
- Associate Prof. Norihiko ITO
- Regenerative medicine, Alternatives to animal testing
- Assistant Prof. Takayuki ENOMOTO
- Cell differentiation, Transcription factor, Epigeneitics, Sensory system
- Assistant Prof. Wataru TSUKIMURA
- Application to biomaterials by natural and synthetic matrix