Welcome to the Yokoyama Lab!
Discovering, Understanding, and Engineering the Chemistry of Life.
Life depends on enzymes that catalyze an extraordinary diversity of chemical reactions, yet much of nature’s catalytic repertoire remains undiscovered. Our research seeks to discover new enzyme functions, biosynthetic pathways, bioactive natural products, and enzyme inhibitors, and to reveal the molecular principles that govern their function. By integrating enzyme discovery with mechanistic enzymology, we uncover new biological chemistry and translate these discoveries into opportunities for enzyme engineering and the development of new therapeutics.
Current research focuses on:
- Discovery of novel enzyme functions and catalytic chemistry
- Discovery of novel natural product biosynthetic pathways and bioactive molecules
- Mechanistic enzymology of complex enzyme-catalyzed reactions
- Enzyme engineering and inhibitor discovery for antibacterial and antifungal therapeutics
Current research areas include:
(2) Cofactor biosynthesis in humans and pathogenic bacteria.
(3) Natural product biosynthesis and genome mining.
(4) Fungal cell wall biosynthesis and antifungal mode of action.
Our research integrates approaches in organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, spectroscopy, genetics, and chemical biology to investigate fundamental questions in enzymatic catalysis.
