Molecular Bioregulation Research Team

Regulation of plant physiology with synthetic molecules

Team Director

Shinya Hagihara Ph.D.

2003: Ph.D., Kyoto University
2003: Postdoctoral fellow, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University
2003: Postdoctoral fellow, RIKEN
2007: Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Geneva, Switzerland
2008: Assistant Professor, Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University
2013: Associate Professor, Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University
2015: PRESTO Researcher
2016: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University
2018: Team Director, Molecular Bioregulation Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-current)
2025: Unit Leader, Chemical Resource Development Research Unit, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-current)

Main Research Fields :	Chemistry
Related Research Fields :	Complex Systems / Biological Sciences / Biology / Agricultural Sciences
Keywords :	Organic Chemistry / Plant Science / Chemical Biology
Strategic Program :	Sustainable Bioproduction 　Advanced Research and Technology Platforms

Outline

Although increasing global food supply is the critical issue for sustainable society, crop yields are growing too slowly to meet the expected food demand. We are rather facing many problems such as climate change, which will make it challenging to produce enough food. Our team aims at solving these issues by chemical biology approach. We search key genes for stable food production through forward and reverse chemical genetics. The compounds obtained from chemical screening will be structurally optimized through chemical synthesis and applied to regulate physiological functions of plants. Our goal is to go beyond the limitation of current plant science and agriculture by combining synthetic chemistry and plant biology, and to explore new field of sustainable resource science.