
- Director, Artificial Intelligence Center for Health and Biomedical Research (ArCHER), NIBIOHN
- Professor of Computational Biology, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University
BRIEF PERSONAL HISTORY
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1990
BA in Physics (unclassified), Faculty of Science, Kyoto University
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1992
MSc in Chemistry (unclassified), Department of Chemistry, Kyoto University
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1995
PhD in Chemistry (unclassified), Department of Chemistry, Kyoto University
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1995
Visiting Scholar (Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Department of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London
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1996
Long-Term Fellow of the Human Frontier Science Program
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
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1998
Research Associate
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
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2000
The Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow (hosting an independent research laboratory)
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
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2004
University Lecturer
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (jointly held in Department of Biochemistry), University of Cambridge
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2006 - Present
Group Leader
National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBIOHN)
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2007 - Present
Guest Professor
Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University
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2015 - Present
Guest Professor
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University
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2019 - Present
Director
Artificial Intelligence Center for Health and Biomedical Research (ArCHER), NIBIOHN
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2019 - Present
Professor
Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Bioinformatics and computational biology for drug discovery
Major achievements
Development of a highly successful method for protein structure prediction
- FUGUE
- One of the best performing structure prediction methods at the CASP (Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction) and other international experiments
- Among the most popular software programmes of its kind (cited >1000; JMB 2001)
- Commercialized by Tripos Inc.
Data integration and database development
- TargetMine , an integrated data warehouse for candidate gene prioritization and target discovery
- Toxyagtes , interactive toxicity analysis on a hybrid microarray and linked data platform
- HOMSTRAD , one of the first on-line databases for structure-based alignments
Successful (experimentally validated) predictions of protein structure, function and interaction
- Examples include developmental regulators, metabolic enzymes in pathogenic microorganisms and proteins involved in cancer and psychiatric disorders
- Identified potential novel targets for hepatitis C and other diseases using TargetMine
- Predicted protein interaction sites using PSIVER and successfully designed a peptide for preventing protein complex formation of a novel estrogen receptor regulator and thereby inhibiting cell growth
CURRENT AND RECENT GRANTS HELD
- See the Japanese page.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge
- Master’s programme in Computational Biology (2004-2006) Coordinator of the module ‘Structural Biology’ (lectures, laboratory sessions and assessment).
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
- The Natural Sciences Tripos (undergraduate), Part II (third year) Biochemistry core course lectures: “bioinformatics” (2000-2006).
- Postgraduate methodology course (Molecular biology and biochemistry in the post-genomic research era): “Bioinformatics modeling and computational biochemistry” (2002-2006).
- Undergraduate projects (2000-2006)
(Other institutions)
- School of Information Systems and School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich
- MSc in Bioinformatics (module “Protein, Structure, Prediction and Modelling”). Lecture and practical (March 2003, March 2004, March 2005)
- Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Inter-University Master’s course in Bioinformatics. Lecture and practical (Nov 2003, Jan 2003)
- MRC Rosalind Franklin Centre for Genomics Research Protein Structure Prediction course, Cambridge (Dec 2004)
- BBSRC Bioinformatics Summer School, Hinxton, Genome Campus
- Lecture “Fold recognition and comparative modeling” (Oct 2000)
- Lecture “Fold recognition and comparative modeling” (Oct 2000)
Tokushima University Medical School (2014-)
- Undergraduate lectures in Biochemistry
Kyoto University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2015)
(PhD supervision)
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (2000-2006)
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University (2007-)