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Profile:Motonari Uesugi

Motonari Uesugi

Motonari Uesugi

Professor and iCeMS Director

Research Fields

Chemical Biology

Research Overview

Uesugi has been making ground-breaking discoveries in the field of chemical biology.
As biological processes all stem from chemical events, it should be possible to understand or manipulate biological events by using chemistry. Uesugi and his co-workers have been discovering or designing unique organic molecules that modulate or interrogate fundamental processes in human cells. Such synthetic organic molecules often serve as tools for basic cell biology and for dissecting diseases. In particular, he has a special interest in combining chemical biology and material science concepts to open new avenues in cell biology and medical applications.

Biography

1990 B.S., Kyoto University
1995 Ph.D., Kyoto University
1995-1998 Postdoctoral training, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
1998-2005 Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine
2005-2009 Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine
2005- Professor, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University
2007-2017 Professor, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University
2013-2017 Deputy Director, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University
2017-2023 Deputy Director, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, KUIAS
2023- Director, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, KUIAS

Selected Papers

  1. Magnetic Control of Cells by Chemical Fabrication of Melanin. Nishio, K., Toh, K., Perron, A., Goto, M., Abo, M., Shimakawa, Y., Uesugi, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144(37), 16720–16725 (2022)
  2. Chemoproteomic Identification of Blue-Light-Damaged Proteins. Toh, K., Nishio, K., Nakagawa, R., Egoshi, S., Abo, M., Perron, A., Sato, S., Okumura, N., Koizumi, N., Dodo, K., Sodeoka, M., Uesugi, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144(44), 20171–20176 (2022)
  3. Discovery of a Small-Molecule-Dependent Photolytic Peptide. Takemoto, Y., Mao, Di., Punzalan, L., Götze, S., Sato, S., Uesugi, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142(3), 1142-1146 (2020)
  4. A Potent and Site-Selective Agonist of TRPA1. Takaya, J., Mio, K., Shiraishi, T., Kurokawa, T., Otsuka, S., Mori, Y., Uesugi, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 15859−15864 (2015)
  5. Small Molecule Transcription Factor Mimic. Kwon,Y., Arndt, H., Mao, Q., Choi, Y., Kawazoe, Y., Dervan, P. B., Uesugi, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 15940-15941 (2004)

Honors

Gold Medal Award - Tokyo Techno Forum 21 (2006), Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award for Divisional Scientific Promotions (2011), German Innovation Award (2011), Ichimura Prize in Science (2017)