Metabolic Engineering

To achieve a sustainable society, bio-productions of useful materials from renewable biomass resources using microorganisms are attracted attension. The uptake substrate is metabolized via the sequential reactions (metabolic pathways) and converted to our desirable compounds in the cells. I have investigated how to rationally engineer the metabolic pathways for enhancing the conversion of the substrate to product. In particular, I'm developing methods for designing pathways based on computer simulations, evaluating metabolic flow on pathways, and controlling the metabolic flow in fermentation processes.