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Metabolomics Research Group

Main Research Fields :
Biological Sciences
Related Research Fields :
Chemistry / Biology / Agricultural Sciences / Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
Keywords :
metabolomics / functional genomics / plant biochemistry / specialized (secondary) metabolism / mass spectrometry
Project :
Metabolic Genome Engineering / Advanced Research and Technology Platforms
M
TP

Developing integrated metabolomics to explore mechanisms and regulation of plant metabolite production

Group Director

Kazuki Saito Ph.D.

Kazuki Saito

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ResearcherID

1981
Research Associate, Medical School, Keio University
1982
Ph.D., Biochemistry/Bioorganic Chemistry, University of Tokyo
1985
Research Associate, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
1987
Post-doctoral Fellow, Ghent University, Belgium
1990
Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
1993
Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
1995
Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences/Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University (-Current)
2005
Group Director, Metabolomic Function Research Group, RIKEN Plant Science Center
2010
Deputy Director, RIKEN Plant Science Center
2013
Deputy Director, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)
2013
Group Director, Metabolomic Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)
2020
Director, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)

CONTACT

RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Metabolomics Research Group

kazuki.saito

YokohamaAccess
1-7-22 Suehiro, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045 Japan
Central Research Building
FAX: +81-(0)45-503-9489

Related Links

Laboratory Website
Metabolomics Research Group

Laboratory on RIKEN Website
Metabolomics Research Group | RIKEN

Outline

Metabolomics Research Group
Metabolomics involves the identification and quantification of all metabolites in a cell and correlating these to genomic functions. The plant kingdom metabolome is extremely diverse chemically, with estimates indicating as many as 200,000 different types of chemical substances. The various compounds produced by plants are important for the existence of the plant itself, and also play a vital role in our lives as food, industrial materials, energy and medicines. Our group performs cutting-edge metabolomics analyses by high-performance mass spectrometry. These non-targeted metabolomic analyses are applied to the identification of unknown gene functions and elucidation of metabolic networks. We are investigating the basic principles behind the wide variety of plant production functions, using Arabidopsis as a model. In the field of Phytochemical Genomics, we are also elucidating the production systems for specialized plant products in crops, medicinal plants and other useful plants at the genome level. Another important aspect of our research is an application of basic findings from these results to metabolic genome engineering for the development of sustainable resources.

Subjects

  1. Improving metabolite peak annotation in metabolomics by empirical and bioinformatics strategies
  2. Application of the metabolomics platform to functional genomics and biotechnology
  3. Identification of plant genes and networks involved in biosynthesis of useful specialized (secondary) metabolites
  4. Metabolic genome engineering and synthetic biology for production of useful compounds
Mass spectrometers using for metabolomic analysis
Co-expression gene network of plant secondary metabolism