Masayoshi TANAKA, Ph.D

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Research Fields

Microbiology, Proteomics, Nanotechnology, Genetic engineering

Education

Ph.D. in Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2008
M.S. in Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2005
B.S. in Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2003

Previous Positions

2014.4 – Present Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
2012.10 – 2014.3 Assistant Professor, Division of Biotechnology and Life Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
2009.9 – 2011.9 Newton International Research Fellow (Royal Society), School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds
2008.6 – 2009.8 Assistant Professor, Division of Biotechnology and Life Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Current Research Topics

Nature is often giving us a hint to fabricate useful materials for human life, because biological organisms have a range of strategies to respond for diverse environments. Using the detail analyses by proteomic and molecular biological techniques, M Tanaka's group seeks how to produce novel bionanomaterials/molecules for nanotechnological and biomedical applications. Now we are focusing on the production of functional nano-wires using a bio-inspired process of membrane morphological regulation. In biological cells, from bacteria to human, the membranous structure is highly regulated by various proteins. The biological phenomenon has inspired the development of novel technology to capsulate different morphology of nanomaterials such as particles, rods, and nanowires within the biological membrane. Since these biofunctional materials capsulated in lipid membrane generally show high biocompatibility and dispersibility, now we are trying to apply these material for nanotechnological and biomedical applications.

 

Awards

Awarded the Chemical Society of Japan Presentation Award 2012
Awarded the Students` Presentation Award at the 86th Chemical Society of Japan Conference
Awarded the Honorary Mention Award at the 11th Biological Science Graduate Congress, Thailand.

 Recent Publication

1. Nemoto, M., Maeda, Y., Muto, M., Tanaka, M., Yoshino T., Mayama S., and Tanaka T.: Identification of a Frustule-associated Protein of the Marine Pennate Diatom Fistulifera sp. Strain JPCC DA0580. Marine Genomics (in press)
2. Nojima D., Yoshino T., Maeda Y., Tanaka M., Nemoto M., and Tanaka T.: Proteomics Analysis of Oil Body-associated Proteins in the Oleaginous Diatom. (2013) Vol. 12 (11), p5293–5301 J. Proteome Res.
3. Muto M., Kubota C., Tanaka M., Satoh A., Matsumoto M., Yoshino T., Tanaka T.: Identification and Functional Analysis of Delta-9 Desaturase, a Key Enzyme in PUFA Synthesis, Isolated from the Oleaginous Diatom Fistulifera. (2013) Vol. 8 (9), e73507, PLoS ONE
4. Yoshino T., Honda T., Tanaka M., and Tanaka T. "Draft Genome Sequence of Marine Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain NKBG15041c" (2013) Vol. 1. e00954-13 Genome Announc.
5. Tanaka, M., Critchley, K., Matsunaga, T., Evans, S., Staniland, S.; Fabrication of Quantum Dots Embedded Lipid Tubules by Membrane Tubulation Protein. (2012) Vol.8 (10), p1590-1595, Small
6. Tanaka, M., Brown, R., Hondow, N., Arakaki, A., Matsunaga, T. and Staniland, S.: Highest Levels of Cu, Mn and Co Doped into Nanomagnetic Magnetosomes through Optimized Biomineralisation. (2012) Vol.22 (24), p11919-11921, J. Mater. Chem.
7. Tanaka, M., Mazuyama, E., Arakaki, A., and Matsunaga, T.: Mms6 Protein Regulates Crystal Morphology during Nano-sized Magnetite Biomineralization in Vivo. (2011) Vol.286 (8), p6386-6392, J. Biol.Chem.