Cooperative Division: Forefront Research Center

Radiation Biological Chemistry

Research areas

1. Synthesis and isotope labeling of amino acid derivatives for nuclear medicine applications
2. Investigation of the quality of nuclear medicine drugs using short-lived radioisotopes
3. Assessment of Biological Effects of Ingestion of Radioisotopes
4. Functional analysis of cancer cell-type amino acid transporter

Our laboratory is engaged in the labeling of low molecular-weight compounds (sodium salts), middle molecular-weight compounds (amino acid derivatives, transporter inhibitors), and high molecular-weight compounds (antibodies, etc.) with short-lived radionuclides and their functional evaluation for application as nuclear medicine therapeutics. In addition to collaborations with laboratories in the Department of Chemistry, we are involved in the production and separation of nuclides, synthesis and labeling of compounds, and evaluation using living organisms (cells and experimental animals) in cooperation with the Graduate School of Medicine, Graduate School of Engineering, Institute for Radiation Sciences, and Research Center for Nuclear Physics. In addition to this, we are also conducting functional analysis of LAT1, an amino acid transporter that is specifically induced in cancer cells and is one of the molecular targets of nuclear medicine drugs, in an attempt to elucidate the significance of the expression of this molecule in cancer and to develop better therapeutic drugs.