Research on protein evolution contributes to biomedicine and biomass energy – Video

Posted: Published on January 21st, 2013

This post was added by Dr P. Richardson


Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL2b_xqgYAA



Research on protein evolution contributes to biomedicine and biomass energy
At Keio University, the Doi Lab researches how proteins, which possess many advanced functions, have evolved since the origin of life four billion years ago. In this way, the researchers are learning the principles of how proteins are built up. They also aim to apply this knowledge to create new proteins that contribute to healthcare, the environment, and energy. Q. Looking at the proteins in various organisms today, they have very advanced functions, and we don #39;t really understand how such proteins arose. It seems that when an organism #39;s environment changes, the organism knows it needs enzymes, and makes them right away, but we don #39;t understand the mechanism behind that evolution. Of course, we can #39;t actually observe past evolution, but if we change the conditions in such ways, and find we can create proteins similar to the advanced ones that exist today, then conversely, we may be able to artificially create proteins that didn #39;t exist before, such as enzymes that can be used in bio-energy, or drugs that function as antibodies. Recently, a new field has developed: evolutionary molecular engineering, which uses the principle of evolution to improve biological molecules. The Doi Lab develops biotechnology to enable artificial evolution of proteins, the key players in biological phenomena, through evolutionary molecular engineering. The researchers are also working to apply this technology to a range of fields. One such field is antibody research, with a view to medical ...

By: keiouniversity

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Research on protein evolution contributes to biomedicine and biomass energy - Video

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