Department of Bioscience and Chemistry
Bioscience and Biotechnology
At our Department of Bioscience and Chemistry, the leading edge of education and research is being done with “bioscience and biotechnology” as common keywords. The research fields of the department are immensely multiplex. Our biggest aim is to solve the basic issues which are quite important to human existence, such as food, health, resources/energy and environment, through performing basic researches regarding to expression mechanism of life phenomena which living things as plants, vertebrates and microorganisms show.
Our mission is to foster human resources of bioscience via biotechnology etc., at the same time to contribute to improvement of human quality of life, by choosing from genes to earth’s ecosystems as subject of study.
Check！
- Department of Bioscience and Chemistry is comprised of following 10 fields.
- Utilizing technique of “chemistry”, the world of interdisciplinary integrated science extends, which thoroughly explores soil, food, vertebrates and microorganisms.
- The four themes “food”, “health”, “energy” and “environment” are binding each laboratory in a mosaic states, networking inside the whole department is lively.
- Joint researches between enterprises are also very active.
Study in Department
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Plant Nutrition
Current research activities: crop productivity based on carbon-nitrogen interaction; crop tolerance to various edaphic growth limiting factors such as low pHs, deficiency of nutrient elements, and excess of toxic elements ; fertility management of crops growing on highly weathered soils.
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Soil Science
Current research activities: biogeochemical nutrient cycling in agro/forest ecosystem; physical land-evaluation for plant production and environmental quality; emission and absorption of greenhouse gasses in soil ecosystem; water and nutrient flow in soil-plant system.
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Natural Product
Current research activities: development and behavior of living systems on a molecular level and the intimate behavior and function of organic in biological environment.
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Biochemistry
Current research activities: Biological and physiological functions of phytohormone metabolizing enzymes; Mechanism and regulation of starch biosynthesis; Mechanism of biotic/abiotic stress response of plant; Structure and function of carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes; Development of fundamental technology for production of beneficial sugar.
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Microbial Physiology
Current research activities: Engineering of energy metabolism for breeding and functional analysis of industrially useful microorganisms (Escherichia coli, Coryneform-glutamic acid-producing bacteria); Screening and utilization of non-proteogenic amino acid-converting enzymes; Analysis of bile acid stress in intestinal lactic acid bacteria; Analysis of intestinal microbiota composition under bile acid stress; Screening and analysis of secondary bile acid-producing intestinal bacteria; Molecular genetics of bifidobacteria.
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Nutritional Biochemistry
Current research activities: sensory and regulatory mechanisms for secretion of gut hormones by food peptides and proteins in digestive tracts; role of dietary fiber and oligosaccharides on mineral absorption; mechanisms of maintaining intestinal epithelial homeostasis and mucosal immunity by luminal factors; antioxidative phospholipids and life-style related diseases.
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Food Biochemistry
Current research activities: structure and function of physiologically active food constituents such as enzyme inhibitors and antioxidants; radical scavenging mechanism of plant polyphenolics; effect of diet on normal and abnormal function of the intestine including immune system, inflammation, and carcinogenesis; prevention and treatment of allergy by food constituents.
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Rhizosphere Control
Current research activities: physiology and molecular interactions of plant symbiotic microorganisms with particular emphasis on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; ecology of the symbiotic fungi in extreme environments and their application to environmental restoration.
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Applied Molecular Microbiology
Current research activities: Elucidation of mutation mechanism of rice blast fungus Pyricularia oryzae; Screening and development of high functional phytases; Microbial dynamics during viticulture and wine fermentation; Microbialculture collection (AHU)
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Environmental Biogeochemistry
Current research activities: Nutrient cyclings, nitrogen dynamics in soils and plants, sustainable farming.