Kenji Mizuguchi (Ph.D.)
Professor of Computational Biology
Institute for Protein Research, University of Osaka
BRIEF PERSONAL HISTORY
1990 BA in Physics (unclassified), Faculty of Science, Kyoto University
1992 MSc in Chemistry (unclassified), Department of Chemistry, Kyoto University
1995 PhD in Chemistry (unclassified), Department of Chemistry, Kyoto University
1995 Visiting Scholar (Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Department of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London
1996 Long-Term Fellow of the Human Frontier Science Program Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
1998 Research Associate Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
2000 The Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow (hosting an independent research laboratory) Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
2004 University Lecturer Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (jointly held in Department of Biochemistry), University of Cambridge
2006 Group Leader National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBIOHN) (-2024)
2007 Guest Professor Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University (-2024)
2015 Guest Professor Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (-2024)
2019 Director Artificial Intelligence Center for Health and Biomedical Research (ArCHER), NIBIOHN (-2024)
2019 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 from amino acid sequences
- 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 >1400; JMB 2001)
- Commercialized by Tripos Inc.
Data integration and database development
- TargetMine: an integrated data warehouse for candidate gene prioritization and target discovery
- ToxyGates: 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
Joint research
CURRENT AND RECENT GRANTS HELD
See the Japanese page
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (2000-2006)
- 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)
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge (2004-2006)
- Master’s programme in Computational Biology (2004-2006) Coordinator of the module ‘Structural Biology’ (lectures, laboratory sessions and assessment).