In this department, to support sustainable productions of bioresources teaching and researches are carried out on higher utilizations of informations and functions presented by them, using plants, animals, and microorganisms.

[Bioinformation and Food Engineering] The projects in the following fields are on-going for biological materials and foods: Physical Properties, UV-VIS-IR Spectroscopy, Color and Shape Analysis, Measurement and Control of Cell Metabolism, Food Process Engineering (Drying and Preservation) and IT Applications.

[Nutritional Science and Technology] To contribute toward good human health, higher utilizaitions of by-products from food industries or other resources are main concern in this laboratory through animal experiments and cellular techniques.

[Food Science and Technology]
The processes of food productions contain many sciences and technologies. New applications of the food science and technology are mainly investigating on utilization of starch as replacement of petroleum source, healthy and safety food-relating stuffs, and fields of bioremediation of acid soil.

[Applied Microbiology]
私たちは遺伝子工学技術で微生物の能力を高め、バイオマスの有効利用をめざしています。図は(1) 植物繊維分解細菌の電子顕微鏡写真、(2) 製紙産業の公害防止に役立つ酵素の立体構造モデル、(3) バイオマスからの水素ガスの生産。

[Biophysical Science]

Vertebrate muscle produces contraction force by recycling a chemical compound, ATP. Periodic arranged thick and thin filaments slide each other to contract the muscle. This mechanism of chemical reaction can be used for keeping freshness of animal or fish meat for a long time. Or the reaction may be ultilized as biological pump if we slow down the reaction to maintain the level of ATP in the muscle.

Time corse of sliding thin filaments on a myosin-coated glass surface. Pictures were taken every 2 second. The scale indicates 10 micro meter.