Researcher Database

（Last updated : 2025-04-08 12:37:36）　

KATO Minoru

Department / Course College of Life Sciences Department of Applied Chemistry

Title / Position Professor

Other Affiliations
1.	Graduate School of Life Sciences
2.	Research Organization of Science and Technology Research Center for Drug Discovery and Development Scieces
3.	Research Organization of Science and Technology The Institute of Science and Engineering

Academic background
1.	1991 Degree Acquisition	│ Ritsumeikan University Doctor of Engineering
2.	～1984/03	College of Science and Engineering │ Ritsumeikan University │ Graduated
3.	～1990	Doctoral Program (2nd Semester) │ Applied Chemistry │ Graduate School, Division of Science and Engineering │ Ritsumeikan University │ Completed

Business career
1.	1997 ～ 1998	Researcher │ │ Rutgers Univ. （米国）

Research activities
1.		The Chemical Society of Japan
2.		The Japan Society of High Pressure Science and Technology
3.		The Biophysical Society of Japan
4.		The Spectroscopical Society of Japan
5.		The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan

Subject of research
1.	Building Principle of Proteinaceous Structural Stability
2.	Physical Chemistry of Proteinaceous Misfolding and Amide Fibrosis
3.	Study on Biomolecular Design Principle by Using Model Peptide and Artificially Designed Peptide
4.	Molecular dyanamics Simulation of bio-aqueous solutions
5.	Physico-Chemical study of Hydrophobic effect
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Research summary
Physical chemistry study of structure forming of protein and malfunctions Protein folding, by which a protein folds into a unique three-dimensional structure, is an essential process for expression of physiological functions. The folding mechanism has remained an open question for over 60 years. Furthermore, recent studies have revealed that prion-related illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease get caused when a protein folds in the wrong way. The problem of protein folding/misfolding is one of the most critical issues in life sciences. To elucidate the folding/misfolding mechanism, the structural changes of proteins and their aggregates in solutions need to be microscopically revealed. However, it is rather difficult to analyze the structures of proteins, which are complicated and fluctuate. We need to use advanced spectroscopies and theoretical methods. We are challenging this difficult problem also by utilizing artificially-designed proteins and peptides.

Present specialized field
Living Organism Physics/Chemical Physics, Basic chemistry, Biophysics, Physical pharmacy (Keyword：Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, Molecular Science, High-Pressure Science, Protein folding/Misfording, Designed Peptide, Molecular Conformation, Aqueous Solution)

Books
1.	2012	Preserving Proteins Under High Pressure and Low Temperature, in Book: Protein Structure edited by E. Faraggi │ ,pp.Chap 10, 229-248
2.	2000	2D-FTIR study of protein │ ,pp.271-274
3.	2000	Recent Advances in High-Pressure Infrared Spectroscopic Studies in Proteins │ ,pp.vol.10, 95-100

Papers
1.	2018	Functional characterizations of polyethylene terephthalate-degrading cutinase-like enzyme Cut190 mutants using bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate as the model substrate │ AIMS Biophysics │ 5 (4),pp.290-302
2.	2018	Molecular Discrimination of Barbital Enantiomer at the Propofol Binding Site of the Human β3 Homomeric GABAA Receptor │ Chem-Bio Informatics Journal │ 18,pp.154-163
3.	2015/11	A Raman spectroscopic study of the conformations of 1,4-dioxane in the pure liquid, methanol, and aqueous solution. │ Chem. Phys. Lett. │ 641,pp.74-79
4.	2015/10	Early aggregation preceding the nucleation of insulin amyloid fibrils as monitored by small angle X-ray scattering. │ Scientific Reports │ 5,pp.15485
5.	2015	Interaction Site between the Protein Aggregates and Thiocyanate Ion in Aqueous Solution: A Case Study of 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Thiocyanate. │ J. Phys. Chem. B. │ (119),pp.6536-6544
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Academic conference presentation
1.	2014/09/07	Infrared, near-infrared, and Raman spectroscopic study on the conformational equilibria of the hydroxyl group of 1-alkanols in organic solvents
2.	2014/09/07	The structure stability of beta-hairpin model peptide by molecular dynamics calculations
3.	2014/09/07	Vibrational spectroscopic study of the pressure effect on beta-hairpin structure using model peptides: mutants of GB1 (41-56)
4.	2012/06	A structural property of proteins: An approach from high pressure studies using model peptides
5.	2011/09	Understanding of Pressure Denaturation of Proteins: An Approach from Model Peptides.
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