Institute for Protein Research

Laboratory for Protein Organic Chemistry

Research Programs

1. Establish methodologies for protein synthesis.
2. Chemical synthesis of membrane proteins.
3. Chemical synthesis of modified histones.
4. Analysis of the structure and function of a single transmembrane receptor.
5. Analysis of the functions of a modified hostone.

We have been working on development of new methods for protein synthesis. Development of auxiliary and the design of building blocks are the main components of this study. We investigate methods for isolating proteins that are insoluble or display strong adhesive to the solid supports used in RH-HPLC. Based on these experiments, we have focused on the chemical synthesis of membrane proteins. We are interested in the functions of histones and in a receptor that is involved in signal transduction. To elucidate the structural chemistry and biology of this receptor, we synthesize peptides composed of transmembrane?juxtamembrane sequences that contain stable isotope labels for solid?state NMR experiments. A combination of biological and chemical methods are used to prepare single full-length transmembrane receptors. To understand the correlation between function and structural modifications in histones, we are currently synthesizing full-length histones.