Faculty and Researchers

Biology and Life Sciences

An introduction to faculty staff members and laboratories in the Biology and Life Sciences.
Note: Information on the laboratories is current as of the 2026 academic year. There may be changes to this information in the 2027 academic year.

IDA Tamio

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Micro-Energy Laboratory
Renewable Energy, Microcombustion Science, Scale Modeling Engineering, Coating/Drying Engineering

We do research and education in multiple domains, while, with a focus on areas such as biofuel, hyperthermia for treating brain cancer, and microcombustion science, fostering industry-government-academia tie-ups, collaborating with other faculties and departments, and doing joint research in other fields—in Japan and internationally.

KIMURA Yuichi

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Engineering in Medical Image and Information Processing Laboratory
Engineering in Medical Image and Information Processing

TSUJIUCHI Toshifumi

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Molecular Oncology Laboratory
Molecular Oncology, Diagnostic Pathology, Experimental Pathology

Cancer progresses in stages: as genetic abnormalities accumulate, it progresses from precancerous lesions to cancer. In addition to searching for genetic mutations of unfavorable prognoses, refractory cancer, such as in pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and bone cancer, research includes cell function analysis through the creation of cancer cells to knock down target genes. The goal is to shed light on molecular mechanisms in cancer infiltration and metastases, and in the acquisition of resistance to anti-cancer drugs.

NISHIYAMA Masayoshi

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Laboratory for Dynamic Living Systems
Biophysics, Bioimaging

Biomolecules are nanometer-sized molecular machines working in living cells. Our research goal is to elucidate the operating principle how biological molecular machines work efficiently in collaboration with water molecules.

HAYASAKA Haruko

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Immune Molecular Function Laboratory
Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Immunology

Immune cells act to protect us from disease-causing agents by attacking them. Cancer cells move from the primary lesion to other organs and proliferate. Research is conducted on the mechanisms of how cells move around inside the body and work in a specific location.

HIDAKA Yuji

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Bioengineering Laboratory
Peptide and Protein Folding, Physiological Activity, Molecular Evolution, Genetic Engineering, Peptide and Protein Science, Disulfide Binding

The conformational changes of the native proteins cause several diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Disulfide bonds play a critical role in the maintenance of the native (bioactive) conformation of peptides and proteins under thermodynamic or kinetic control. Therefore, it is important to regulate disulfide bond formation in protein folding. We currently focus on the development the chemical methods to regulate disulfide-coupled peptide and protein folding

FUKUSHIMA Nobuyuki

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory
Cell Biology, Neurobiology, Lipid Biology

How is the complex neural circuitry of the brain created, what affects the actions of animals, and what mechanisms do nerves and cancer share? The mysteries behind these questions are delved into using research drawing on molecular biology.

MATSUI Kazuaki

Position
Professor
Laboratory
Environmental Biological Science Laboratory
Urban Microbial Ecology, Human Impacts on Microbial Ecosystems

We are working on a variety of research projects to understand the urban aquatic microbial ecosystems. Our current interest is the dynamics and distribution of bacterial heavy metal and antibiotic resistance genes in urbanized environment. We also try to elucidate the quantitative relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning with microbes.

YAMANISI Hirokuni

Position
Professor
Environmental ionizing radiation, Evaluation of radiation dose, Radiation protection

KAWASHITA Norihito

Position
Associate Professor
Laboratory
Computational Life Science
Computational Chemistry, Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, Protein-protein interaction, Infections, Molecular Design, Drug Resistance, Molecular Evolution

We aim to elucidate various phenomena in the life sciences, including molecular evolution, drug susceptibility, and protein-protein interactions, using computational chemistry and bioinformatics that utilize computers and supercomputer.

SHIMAMOTO Shigeru

Position
Associate Professor
Laboratory
Molecular Function and Structure Regulation Laboratory
Structural Biology, Thermodynamics

The function of proteins depends on its native tertiary structure. In order to clarify their function mechanism and regulate their function, we perform the structure determination of proteins and thermodynamic analysis.

OTSUKA Airi

Position
Lecturer
Laboratory
Laboratory of Nutrition and Health science
Nutrition, Food Functional Science, Physiology, Neuroscience

Social stress is a form of mental stress associated with human relationships that underlies the pathogenesis of mental disorders such as depression. We examine the effect of nutritional approach to social stress and explain the mechanism of reducing psychosocial stress by food.

HAGIWARA Teruki

Position
Lecturer
Laboratory
Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Cell Biology, Molecular Biology

1) Using cells extracted from mice, investigation is carried out on the effect of drugs on cerebral ventricle ependymal cell ciliary beating and on oocyte CA2+ oscillations. 2) Investigation is carried out on the transport of sodium ions across the alveolar epithelium, and changes during inflammation.