Professor Junken Aoki, Research Associate Asuka Inoue, and Assistant Professor Kumiko Makide of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, along with Professor Hiroyuki Arai and Professor Tomohiko Ohwada of the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, and Professor Shigeki Higashiyama of the Proteo-Medicine Research Center, Ehime University, cooperated and developed a novel method to detect the activation of G Protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). By using this method, they succeeded in detecting activation of 104 GPCRs out of 116 GPCRs whose ligands are known, demonstrating a 90% detection rate which is the highest ever achieved. In addition, they identified three orphan GPCRs (P2Y10, GPR174 and A630033H20) as receptors for lysophosphatidylserine, a less-studied bioactive lipid. This research will contribute to a more efficient and innovative drug development and will ensure the further studies of the bioactive lipid lysophosphatidylserine. The research results were published online and will be published in the October issue of the American science journal Nature Methods.

More information (Japanese)

[Contact]

Professor Junken Aoki

Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University

TEL: +81-22-795-6860

E-mail: jaoki*m.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

Research Associate Asuka Inoue

Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University

TEL: +81-22-795-6861

E-mail: iaska*m.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)