Dr. Kristina V. Bayer from @wombacherlab.bsky.social 🇩🇪 has joined us as a postdoctoral researcher with support from the Humboldt–JSPS Fellowship. Welcome to the Tsukiji Lab!
Here is our 2026 group photo with all lab members. Let’s enjoy exploring new chemical biology together! 😃
📣 The International Symposium on Chemistry for Multimolecular Crowding Biosystems (Post-55th Naito Conference in Kyoto), organized by Prof. Itaru Hamachi, will be held at Kyoto University on July 4–5, 2026. If you will be in Kyoto, check out the incredible lineup of keynote speakers and join us!
This work is an exciting collaboration with the Murakami lab and the Tsumoto lab! Huge shoutout to our amazing co-first authors, Tomoki Miyazaki and Tomoshige Fujino, who led the project. Big thanks to Tatsu Yoshii for his key early contributions. Grateful to all authors!
Since the preprint, we have expanded FAzo/AzoTag applications by extending the PAGER strategy reported by @reikatei.bsky.social and @aliceyting.bsky.social to construct light-responsive GPCRs, and by photocontrolling TrkA for neuronal differentiation.
bsky.app/profile/shin...
Excited to share that our AzoTag paper is now out in @natchem.nature.com! 🥳
We demonstrate de novo chemo-optogenetics through the rational design of photoresponsive small molecules and selection of their artificial protein binding pairs.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Shinya Tsukiji
Shinya Tsukiji
Shinya Tsukiji
Optical manipulation of proteins is central to modulating and characterizing biomolecular functions in cell biology, but tools based on natural proteins are difficult to reconfigure for desired photoc...
See our recent review on proximity chemistry to study RNA biology. If you are interested in getting into the field, this is an easy way to get caught up on the chemistry and technology:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our more recent paper is hot off the press in @jacs.acspublications.org
Great team effort and a preview of what the future looks like for our group....
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
See our thoughts and overview on the field of binder discovery! Also it has a bit of an update on some of our own work pushing to new directions
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
RNAs preferentially localize across virtually every subcellular compartment, from membrane-bound organelles, membrane-less condensates and even the ce…
Protein binders are fundamental tools in chemical biology, key components of biotechnologies, and the foundation of biologics-based medicines. However…
Developing molecules that selectively bind targets of interest remains a critical bottleneck in biological research and biotechnology. Here, we present a workflow that leverages the Phage-Assisted Non-Continuous Selection for Binders (PANCS-Binders) technology for rapid de novo binder discovery. To directly assess the speed and utility of the approach, we pursued three cancer-related targets: NSD3, NMNAT2, and CSF1R. Within 26 days, the PANCS-Binders workflow yielded sequence- and function-verified binders for all three targets with nano-to-micromolar affinities. By incorporating an NSD3 binder into an engineered E3 ligase, RNF8, we developed an NSD3 degrader that potently depleted endogenous NSD3 and inhibited colorectal cancer cell proliferation. We then applied this degrader to reveal previously unknown NSD3 dependencies in ovarian cancer cell lines, uncovering new therapeutic vulnerabilities. Together, our work establishes a robust workflow for accelerated binder discovery and demonstrates how binders can expedite chemical biology discovery and biotechnology development.
1/ Check out our newest paper where we ask: How fast can we experimentally discover binders from scratch?
And we mean scratch: a blinded study.
TLDR: 26 days. And the binders work…and led to new cancer biology.
We’re coming for you AI….
chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
Bryan Dickinson
We are hiring! We have a fully funded PhD position to study how the Golgi apparatus controls its redox potential. Please apply only through the link below.
jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...
We are a dynamic, interdisciplinary, medium-size lab working at the interface of chemistry and biology. We work on the development of probes to visualize and control biological processes in living sys...
