Tokyo Institute of Technology · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Professor Atsushi Maruyama's research lab specializes in the development of advanced biomaterials and molecular tools for gene delivery and regulation. The lab focuses on designing functional nanomaterials—particularly polymeric nanoparticles and comb-type polycations—engineered for efficient polynucleotide delivery and stabilization of nucleic acid structures such as DNA triplexes and Z-DNA. Their work bridges polymer chemistry, molecular biology, and biotechnology, with applications in gene therapy and synthetic biology. The lab also investigates the molecular interactions between polycations and DNA to overcome challenges in solubility, stability, and targeted delivery.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Phylogenetic positions of psychrophilic bacteria isolated from the Japan Trench were determined by sequencing analysis of PCR-amplified bacterial small subunit (16S) rRNA genes. Between surface and deep-sea psychrophiles, distinct positions clearly differed within the gamma-Proteobacteria. In phylogenetic analysis using neighbour-joining, maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood, strains from surface seawater were inferred to be located in the Halomonas aquamarina-meridiana clade within the fami
Biodegradable nanoparticles, which contain the sites for both polynucleotide adsorption and targeting ligand on their surfaces, were prepared as a novel carrier for genetic materials. The nanoparticles were obtained from poly(D,L-lactic acid) and poly(L-lysine)-graft-polysaccharide copolymers by using either a solvent evaporation method or a diafiltration method. The size of the particles prepared by the diafiltration method was controlled by varying the initial concentration of the graft copoly
DNA triplex formation has been studied as a potential strategy for regulation of gene expression. The triplex is, however, unstable under physiological conditions, so that an effective stabilizer for the triplex formation is needed. Here is shown a novel strategy to stabilize the triplex based on the molecular design of a comb-type polycation. Linear polycations, such as poly(L-lysine) and poly(L-arginine), thermally stabilize DNA duplexes (and triplexes). The complexes between DNA and the polyc
ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTEnantioselective permeation of α-amino acid isomers through poly(amino acid)-derived membranesAtsushi Maruyama, Noriyuki Adachi, Takehisa Takatsuki, Masanori Torii, Kohei Sanui, and Naoya OgataCite this: Macromolecules 1990, 23, 10, 2748–2752Publication Date (Print):May 1, 1990Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 1 May 1990https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ma00212a027https://doi.org/10.1021/ma00212a027research-articleACS Publi
The polyionic interaction between DNA and polycations grafted with hydrophilic dextran side chains was evaluated. The comb-type copolymers, poly(L-lysine)-graft-dextran, were successfully prepared by employing a reductive amination reaction between epsilon-amino groups of poly(L-lysine) (PLL) and the reductive ends of dextran (Dex). A coupling efficacy on the order of 70% was obtained regardless of intrinsic philicities of the solvents used, either aqueous buffer or DMSO. The resulting graft cop
Using a luciferase reporter assay, we previously demonstrated that a Z-DNA-forming sequence of alternating thymine-guanine repeats in the human heme oxygenase-1 gene (HO-1) promoter is involved in nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2 (NF-E2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated HO-1 promoter activation. However, the actual Z-DNA formation in this native genomic locus has not been experimentally demonstrated. To detect Z-DNA formation in vivo, we generated a construct containing the Z-DNA-binding domai
Open papers in the app to read, cite, and organize with AI.
