Join us September 23 for the 2025 BioTechnology Institute-University of Tokyo joint symposium! Since 2017, BTI has partnered with University of Tokyo’s Agro-Biotechnology Research Center and Department of Biotechnology/ Applied Biological Chemistry to run this event highlighting biotechnology research and an opportunity to build connections across institutions.
Event details
- Tuesday, September 23
- Keller 3-180
- Registration is free
Poster presentation application is closes on Thursday, September 18.
Schedule
- 8 a.m.: Coffee and registration
- 9 a.m.: Opening remarks by Claudia Schmidt-Dannert (Director, BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota)
- Session 1 (Chair: Claudia Schmidt-Dannert)
- 9:10 a.m.: Tom Niehaus (University of Minnesota): Metabolic support systems remove side-products and protect cells against metabolite damage
- 9:30 a.m.: Yasuhito Sakuraba (University of Tokyo): Trans-organ analysis of gene co-expression networks: a novel approach to reveal a mobile long-distance regulator that balances shoot and root development in plants
- 9:50 a.m.: Seung Hwan Lee (University of Minnesota): Synthetic, orthogonal metabolic pathway for one-carbon compound utilization
- 10:10 a.m.: Makoto Nishiyama (University of Tokyo): AmCP-mediate natural product biosynthesis
- 10:30 a.m.: Break
- Session 2 (Chair: Christine Salomon)
- 10:45 a.m.: Mike Smanski (University of Minnesota): Synthetic Biology for Natural Product Discovery and Optimization
- 11:05 a.m.: Jun-ichi Maruyama (University of Tokyo): Unraveling the complex molecular mechanisms of cell-to-cell connectivity in multicellular filamentous fungi
- 11:25 a.m.: Jannell Bazurto (University of Minnesota): The role of the TtmR regulator in formaldehyde metabolism and its environmental implications
- 11:45 a.m.: Ayako Yoshida (University of Tokyo): Catalytic regulation of CoA transferase by an NAD⁺-sensing pseudoenzyme
- 12:05 p.m.: Lunch and poster viewing
- Session 3 (Chair: Mike Freeman)
- 1:20 p.m: Mikael Elias (University of Minnesota): Molecular tools to control microbial communication
- 1:40 p.m.: Hideaki Nojiri (University of Tokyo): Single cell inoculation method reveals unknown microbial functions and interactions
- 2 p.m.: Katie Fixen (University of Minnesota): Nitrogenase with all the Fixens: decoding electron flow for nitrogen fixation
- 2:20 p.m.: Souichiro Kato (University of Tokyo): Novel syntrophic metabolisms in microbial methane production
- 2:40 p.m.: Will Harcombe (University of Minnesota): The impact of stress in communities of cross-feeding bacteria
- 3 p.m.: Break
- Session 4 (Chair: Satoshi Ishii)
- 3:15 p.m.: Yoichi Noda (University of Tokyo): Elucidating the biosynthetic mechanism of budding yeast cell wall b-1,6-glucan
- 3:35 p.m.: Paige Novak (University of Minnesota): The use of encapsulated bacteria for high rate anaerobic treatment
- 3:55 p.m.: Hirofumi Hara (University of Tokyo): Conversion of wood biomass waste into aromatic feedstocks through physicochemical and biological processes
- 4:15 p.m.: Brett Barney (University of Minnesota): A strategy for terminal urea production by a nitrogen-fixing microbe
- 4:35 p.m.: Yasuo Ohnishi (University of Tokyo): Involvement of cell wall-anchored proteins in exploratory growth of Actinoplanes missouriensis
- 4:55 p.m.: Closing remarks by Yasuo Ohnishi (Director of the Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, University of Tokyo)
- 5 p.m.: Poster presentation and networking
Poster presententations
- MinSung Kim (University of Tokyo), Characterization of the hydrophobic cell membrane during hexadecane metabolism in Rhodococcus jostii RHA1
- Masaaki Hidaka (University of Tokyo), Elucidation of the impacts of plasmid replication modules on host metabolism
- Yuta Hayashi (University of Tokyo), Studies on the biosynthesis of a novel heterocyclic compound in Streptomyces lydicus
- Xinzhe Zhang (University of Tokyo), Structural analysis of carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) from bifidobacteria
- Mailun Yang (University of Tokyo), GWAS-based Identification and biotechnological application of a phosphate starvation response regulator in plants
- Yuya Hamanaka (University of Tokyo), Colony-colony inhibition as a self-regulatory mechanism in filamentous fungi
- Hayato Ito (University of Tokyo), Component analysis of the rigid layer of sporangium outer envelope in the rare actinomycete Actinoplanes missouriensis
- Mike Wold (University of Minnesota), Retron library recombineering in Shewanella oneidensis targeting extracellular electron transfer
- Peter Winslow (University of Minnesota), Characterization of primordial-like proteins from reduced amino acid alphabets
- Nisha Vishwanathan (University of Minnesota), Characterization of a pepsin-like protease involved in borosin RiPP maturation
- Adity Biswas (University of Minnesota), Predicting compatibility between ferredoxins and the Fe protein of nitrogenase using in silico protein modeling
- Donnen Yong (University of Minnesota), Overcoming nitrogenase repression in Azotobacter vinelandii via disruption of inorganic nitrogen assimilation pathways