Chemical Library Validation Team
Team Head
Nobumoto Watanabe

- Brief resume
- 1987
- D.Sci., University of Tokyo
- 1987
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Molecular Oncology Laboratory, RIKEN
- 1989
- Research Scientist, Gene Bank, RIKEN
- 1992
- Research Associate, Salk Institute, USA
- 2001
- Senior Research Scientist, Antibiotics Laboratory, RIKEN
- 2006
- Visiting Professor, Universiti Sains Malaysia: USM, Malaysia (-current)
- 2008
- Senior Research Scientist, Chemical Library Validation Team, RIKEN
- 2009
- Team Head, Chemical Library Validation Team, RIKEN (-current)
Outline
The Chemical Biology Core Facility collects many natural compounds and stores them in the RIKEN Natural Product Depository (NPDepo). A good chemical library should contain many compounds with a wide range of useful biological activities; therefore our team validates the activities of the compounds in NPDepo by actual screening of the library through various assay systems. For this purpose, we develop high throughput screening systems using chemical array and liquid handling robots to screen the large library. Besides developing new screening systems to identify compounds with novel biological activities, our team also conducts basic research in to the mechanisms behind the biological activities of the compounds.
Recent Research Topic

- Fig. 1: Examples of Chemical library Validation Systems
Selected Publications
- E. B. B. Ong, et al. Vipirinin, a coumarin-based HIV-1 Vpr Inhibitor, interacts with a hydrophobic region of Vpr, J. Biol. Chem. 2011, 286, 14049.
- M. Kawatani, et al. Identification of a small-molecule inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase II by proteomic profiling, Chem. Biol. 2011, 18, 743.
- I. Miyazaki, S. Simizu, H. Okumura, S. Takagi, H. Osada, A small molecule inhibitor shows that pirin regulates migration of melanoma cell, Nature Chem. Biol. 2010, 6, 667.
- M. Muroi, et al. Application of proteomic profiling based on 2D-DIGE for classification of compounds according to the mechanism of action, Chem. Biol. 2010, 17, 460.
- N. Watanabe, et al. Deficiency in chromosome congression by the inhibition of PLK1 polo box domain-dependent recognition, J. Biol. Chem. 2009, 284, 2344.
- Y. Tamura, et al. Polo-like kinase 1 phosphorylates and regulates Bcl-xL during pironetin-induced apoptosis, Oncogene 2009, 28, 107.
- M. Kawatani, et al. The identification of an osteoclastogenesis inhibitor through the inhibition of glyoxalase I, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 2008, 105, 11691.
Core Members
| Principal Investigator |
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| Nobumoto Watanabe |
Team Head |
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| Staff Scientist |
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| Tatsuhiko Sudo |
Senior Research Scientist |
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| Makoto Muroi |
Senior Research Scientist |
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| Takuya Ito |
Senior Research Scientist |
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| Yasumitsu Kondoh |
Senior Research Scientist |
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| Akira Wada |
Senior Research Scientist |
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| Makoto Kawatani |
Research Scientist |
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| Postdoctoral Fellow |
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| Hiroki Hayase |
Postdoctoral Researcher |
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| Tatsuro Kawamura |
Postdoctoral Researcher |
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| Alena Lagumdzija |
Visiting Researcher |
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| Student Trainee |
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| Technical Assistant |
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| Hideaki Konno |
Technical Staff I |
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| Kaori Honda |
Technical Staff I |
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| Hisae Kondo |
Technical Staff I |
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| Yasuko Hirata |
Technical Staff I |
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| Harumi Aono |
Technical Staff I |
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| Emiko Sanada |
Technical Staff I |
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| Yukako Fukushima |
Technical Staff I |
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| Shinobu Yamaguchi |
Technical Staff I |
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| Tomomi Sekine |
Technical Staff I |
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| Administrative Assistant |
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| Visiting Research Staff |
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| Osong Kwon |
Visiting Scientist |
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