User:Umeno

From 2006.igem.org

Latest revision as of 22:17, 10 July 2006

Greetings!
I am Daisuke Umeno, the only faculty member oficially supporting CHIBA Team.
My role is to work hard to keep us in iGEM business.
Surviving iGEM - This is a huge challenge to me, too.

My iGEM2006

Stay back. This is my war....

My Address

Tel/Fax: +81+43-290-3413
E mail: umeno[AT]faculty.chiba-u.jp
Shipping address:
Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology
Chiba University, Japan
1-33, Yayoi-Cho, Inage-ku, Chiba City
Chiba, 263-8522 JAPAN
+81-43-290-3413

My Research History ~Almost Lost in the Pacific

1998 Ph.D. in Chemistry, Mizuo Maeda lab. (Kyushu University, JPN)
Grafting synthetic polymers on dsDNAs
I developed the way to freely graft the synthetic polymers on dsDNA. Here DNA was just a part of material, rather than the genetic component. I think our work was one of the very first attempts to use long stretch of DNA as a scaffold for assembling or clustering molecular function. I showed that polymer jacketted DNAs are ligatable/recuttalbe with another piece of DNA. This means you can connect dsDNA modified with different polymers at you will- exactly as molecular biologist does. We claimed DNA is the best material for assembling or aligning polymer function in submicrometer scale.
I also showed the transcription can be regulated by the dynamics of polymer grafted on DNA. Alas! this part of the project has been unpublished for 7 years now, but I earned a prize on it in the research competition held by Newspaper/ Media group (Fuji sankei Group). With the prize money, I bought Miata (Mazda). But Oops, I ruined it in 8 months.

1999-2003 PostDoc at Frances H. Arnold lab. (Caltech)
Directed evolution of biosynthetic pathways
I was evolving carotenoid pathways toward novel and unique ones that never existed in Natural history. With cool students Alex Tobias and Adam Hartwick, we tested many theory on pathway evolution. Here I learned almost all about biology. Also I developed crystal clear vision on what kind of professor I would like to be. I met many special people such as Chris Voigt (UCSF, yes, that Chris) and Pat Cirino (Penn State).

2003-2005 Senior Fellow at Lawlence A. Loeb lab. (UW)
Controlling mutation frequency in E coli cell
They developed a pretty cool mutator E. coli strain. I was trying to adjust their system for protein engineering. I was also involved in the glycosylase project between L.A. Loeb and D. Baker. Unlike the way I familiar with, they were computationally designing the new pocket of DNA repair enzyme to do new job. Because of my tranferring (and maybe lack of smartness), neither of the project are completed yet. Still going. I am working on it, boss!

Now, As a CHIBA MAN

April 2005 Associate Professor (Dept Applied Chemistry and Biotech.)
I share a lab with Professor Kyoichi Saito, my boss. He makes various kind of sepaeration materials including those for bioseparation, biosensing, and bioreactors. Until recently, he was collecting uranium from seawater. Recently, his team is heading more to bio-stuff. As a ex-material chemist and working user, I am testing his separation material.

My own team is quite new, and our projects have just started. Some of them are in synthetic biology field.
Keywords; E coli mutator (w/ LA Loeb), switches/ sensors (iGEM kind), display techniques, DNA based-materials, and pathway enginerring.

My HOBBIES
1. Supporting iGEM CHIBA
Of course this comes first.

2. Making iGEM Demo CAR (Produced/ Powered by [http://www.rasty.tv/ Rasty])
Daisuke makes his own iGEM project; creating iGEM CHIBA Demo Car.
The process itself is very similar to what iGEM members are doing to E. coli. Starting from very normal sedan (Toyota 1996), I want to make something very unique, hopefully attractive one, with very limited knowledge ......and with unbelievably limited budget. Good thing is that I got a strong support from [http://www.rasty.tv/ Rasty], one of the very best/ famous car tuners in Tokyo area!! They say iGEM is ultra-cool!

3A. Asking for money
The more you metabolize, the more you consume. iGEM member eats a lot. My lab members consume even more. Probably like other PIs, I am daily begging for a support. Very limited success on this so far, but I am an grant application nerd, and I like the process itself.

3B. Asking for tires
Same here. My car eats a lot, too.

4. Being taken care of by my family (only one way)
I have lots (iGEM students) to take care of, and I won't do the same at home. Thus I behave like a boy (but as a GOOD one, I wash dishes every night).

5. Taking a nap in a train
....and finding myself somewhere I never know of.

More About Me:

[http://chem.tf.chiba-u.jp/~umeno/ My HP]
[http://graft.web.infoseek.co.jp/index2.html Ume Group HP]
[http://chem.tf.chiba-u.jp/igem/index.html iGEM CHIBA HP]