Nagoya University
School of Agricultural Sciences /
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences
Lab of Molecular Biotechnology
"Learn From Nature, And Go Beyond Nature" is our research policy.
Our research projects are focused on understanding various biological phenomena and their application to biotechnology. We aim to contribute to a sustainable society as well as basic and applied research.
The current research projects involve mainly industrially useful biochemical reactions using enzymes, organelles, and microorganisms.
If you are interested in our lab, do not hesitate to contact each staff by e-mail; we are happy to meet you online.
Update
(March 25, 2026) The graduation and degree conferral ceremonies were held. Congratulations to all the graduates. (March 25, 2026) Akimichi Yoshino, a fourth-year undergraduate student, received the Chubu Branch President’s Award from the Japanese Biochemical Society (details are available in the News section). (March 19, 2026) A press release was issued regarding our laboratory’s research findings (details are available in the News section). (November 22, 2025) A collaborative research project led by Associate Professor Kato with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Waseda University was featured in the Chubu Keizai Shimbun (details in the News section). (November 11, 2025) Research results from a collaborative project led by Associate Professor Kato with AIST and Waseda University were featured in the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (details in the News section). (November 10, 2025) Yuma Nishikawa (Ph.D. candidate) and Akinori Yoshino (undergraduate student) received the Student Poster Award at the International Conference on Bottom-up Biotechnology for Understanding and Engineering Living Systems 2025 (BB2025), held at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) (details are available in the News section). (October 29, 2025) A press release was issued regarding our laboratory’s research findings (details are available in the News section). (September 30, 2025) A paper published by Associate Professor Kato and colleagues in *ACS Synthetic Biology* was featured in *Medicine Innovates* (details are available in the News section). (September 20, 2025) Akimichi Yoshino, a fourth-year undergraduate student, received the Academic Encouragement Award at the 202nd Regular Meeting of the Chubu Branch of the Japanese Society of Agricultural Chemistry. (July 6, 2025) Yuma Nishikawa (second-year doctoral student) and Akinori Yoshino (fourth-year undergraduate student) received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the 2025 Summer Seminar of the Young Researchers’ Association in Bioengineering (Young Researchers’ Association) (details are available in the News section). (April 3, 2025) With new members joining, we held a joint cherry blossom viewing party and welcome party for the three labs. (March 25, 2025) The graduation and degree conferral ceremonies were held. Congratulations to everyone on your graduation. (October 18, 2024) Yuma Nishikawa (D1) received a Poster Award at the 29th Symposium of the Young Asian Biological Engineers’ Community (details are available in the news section). (September 10, 2024) D3 student Monami Kihara and M1 student Yuki Oba received the Student Excellence in Presentation Award at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for Biotechnology, Japan, selected from among 236 entries (details in the news section). (June 21, 2024) Assistant Professor Kato received the Enzyme Application Symposium Research Encouragement Award at the 25th Enzyme Application Symposium (details here). (May 22, 2024) Kalhari, a D1 student, received the Poster Award for Original and Unique Idea at the FEBS 2024 Transglutaminase Meeting. (April 4, 2024) With new members joining the group, a joint cherry blossom viewing party was held with the Applied Enzymology Laboratory and the Animal Cell Physiology Laboratory to welcome the new members. (March 29, 2024) An article featuring Professor Hideo Nakano was published on the career website “Elite Network” (click here for details). (March 24, 2024) Lecturer Jasmina received the Young Female Researcher Award in Agricultural Chemistry at the 2024 Japanese Society of Agricultural Chemistry, and Assistant Professor Kato received the Agricultural Chemistry Encouragement Award. (December 2, 2023)
Class
Related Classes
"Venture Business Management"
Lecturer: Dr. Kunihiko Takei, President, A Tech Ventures, Inc.
Summary: Please click here (PDF) for the details of the 2025 class.
Information: This lecture is an active learning style class, where students develop practical thinking and presentation skills through the process of conceptualizing a business in concrete terms, trying out simulations, and putting together a business plan as a team through experiential learning. It is not a requirement that participants have a business idea.
For students
Our laboratory has accepted numerous students from other universities in the past, and several such students are currently enrolled. We also have many international students enrolled.Applicants wishing to join our laboratory or pursue graduate studies are expected to have a TOEIC score of 700 or higher, or a TOEFL iBT score of 60 or higher.
The required subjects for the graduate school entrance exam are one course from biochemistry, cell biology, or microbiology, plus one additional course (no specific subject required).Past entrance exam questions can be provided during a lab visit.For further details, please check the Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences website: https://www.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp/jukensei/
We hold an entrance exam information session and lab visits every March, so please take advantage of these opportunities.You are welcome to visit the lab in person, and if you live far away, we can also arrange a meeting via a video conferencing system such as Zoom.If you are interested, please check the email address on the Contact page and feel free to reach out to us.