Academic Staff

To establish the bioeconomy society, the production of biomaterials using biotechnology is desired. Our reseaches are described below.
①Production of animal vaccine in silkworms: virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines are produced in silkworm by the expression of structural proteins of animal viruses. VLP can induce the same immune response as viruses because VLP has the same morphology as viruses. Additionally, VLP is safe because VLP does not have any viral genetic information.
②Production of Vitamin B2 in fungus: Vitamin B2 is essential for human and animal becuse they can not produce it. Then, Vitamin B2 is added to dietary supplement and animal diet. By the optimization of cutivation conditions and construction of vitamin B2 overproducing mutants using genetic engineering, the efficient production system of vitamin B2 is achieved.
③Production of Cordyceps militaris fruiting body in silkworms: Cordyceps militaris fruiting bodies have many kinds of bioactive compounds and has been utilized for herbal medicine and dietary supplement. To produce the fruiting bodies in silkworm, the speed of its infection to silkworms has to be improved. By the elucidating the infection mechanisms of C. militaris to silkworms, the efficient production system of C. militaris fruiting bodies in silworms is established,