We are pleased to announce that the international event “UJA Global Gathering 2025 / The 2nd UJA Conference,” hosted by the United Japanese researchers Around the world (UJA), will be held soon.
This conference serves as a platform for supporting the careers of Japanese researchers abroad, providing information and assistance to those considering studying overseas, and fostering collaboration and dialogue with educational and science policy institutions—all in the pursuit of shaping the future of research and human resource development.
Our lab’s PI, Prof. Atsuo Sasaki, will also be speaking at the event.
Online participation is available.
We warmly welcome your participation!
Date: April 25–26, 2025
Venue: Online & Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Ohio, USA
Please register via the official event website:
https://manager58896.wixsite.com/uja-globalgathering2

Dr. Shinichiro Takahashi's Visit and Lecture at the University of Cincinnati.
On March 4, 2025, we had the honor of hosting Dr. Shinichiro Takahashi, Professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, at the University of Cincinnati for a lecture. As part of a joint initiative between MSTiC and UC-Tomorrow, Dr. Takahashi delivered an engaging talk, and many attendees listened attentively to his insights on his remarkable research activities.
Lecture Title: What kind of diet should humans eat in the future?

PI Atsuo T. Sasaki was invited to give a lecture at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan on December 6, 2024.
Title: Decoding the evolving role of GTP energetics in bioregulation

Review Paper Accepted!
We are thrilled to announce that our review paper was accepted on New Year's Eve 2024, marking a joyful conclusion to the year for our team.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current progress in therapeutic development targeting PI5P4K, with a particular focus on the development of inhibitors. We also delve into critical aspects of inhibitor development that have often been overlooked, presenting insights from cell biology, pharmacology, and structural biology in a manner accessible to researchers from various fields. Beyond PI5P4K, we believe this review will benefit those working on kinase-targeted therapies or with a general interest in therapeutic development. We hope you find it informative.

PI5P4K inhibitors: Promising opportunities and challenges.(Review)

From November 16th to 18th, members of our lab participated in the 3rd GTP Hackathon, held in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The keywords of this research retreat were "Food, Lifestyle, and Physiological Conditions." Topics included GTP as umami, vitamins, diet, health, and disease. Participants explored the connections between GTP and cellular environments down to the microscopic level, generating and sharing innovative ideas that emerged from these discussions. Our lab members presented their research through poster sessions, receiving valuable feedback. This event also provided an excellent opportunity to deepen connections with peers working on diverse research projects.

On November 14th, PI Sasaki gave a lecture at the Tropical Biosphere Research Center of the University of the Ryukyus.

FY2020 8th TBRC Seminar
“GTP metabolism and the dynamism of life: A new perspective on living organisms and disease control”
Point + What is important to you in order to have a prosperous career.”

On November 13th, PI Atsuo T. Sasaki will speak at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST).

Title: "Decoding the evolving role of GTP energetics in bioregulation"

Our lab students have researched the research career of our PI, Atsuo T. Sasaki, and compiled it into a video series (in Japanese).

1.PhD Stage
2.Postdoc Stage
3.PI Stage
It’s a three-part series. Please take a look!

A GTP GEEKS booth will also be on display at the 97th Japan Biochemical Society Convention to be held at Pacifico Yokohama on November 7th.
In this exhibition, we will introduce new functions of GTP and its application to cancer and metabolic diseases.
Our research is carried out in collaboration with experts in multiple fields such as structural biology, drug discovery, and omics analysis.
At our booth, we will share our research results and seek new collaborators and GTP research colleagues.
If you want to solve the mysteries of GTP metabolism and contribute to future treatments, or if you are interested in our activities, please drop by.

Date and time: November 7th-9th Corporate exhibition hall Booth No.50
Principles of life seen from GTP
Cutting-edge research by GTP-GEEKS and its possibilities

PI Sasaki will give a presentation at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Biochemical Society to be held at Pacifico Yokohama on November 7th.
The topics of the presentations are as follows. Please check the society's website for details.

Date and time: Thursday, November 7th, 9:00-11:00, Hall 7 (G301)
Symposium: GTP Symphony: Exploring metabolic biochemistry and disease elucidation under physiological conditions.

At the 18th Metabolome Symposium 2024 to be held at the Advanced Research Industry Support Center in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture on October 23-25, 2024, PI Atsuo T. Sasaki will be speaking on the topic of "GTP metabolism and the dynamism of life: new perspectives on biological and disease control."

At the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association, held in Fukuoka City on September 19-21, 2024, Mr.Ohta gave a presentation on "Discovery of direct activation of Mycophenolate mofetil/CellCept within cancer cells and its antiproliferative effects."

On July 18th, we had the honor of welcoming Dr. Toshiya Senda, Dr. Miki Senda, Dr. Takeshi Murata, and Dr. Tatsuyoshi Kono from GTP-GEEKS to the Sasaki Lab at the University of Cincinnati. We engaged in passionate discussions, which allowed each of us to further deepen our research themes.

On December 9th, a GTP hackathon will be held at Kiyosato Kogen, Yamanashi Prefecture. We will discuss the relationship between GTP and diseases, aging, diet, immunity, evolution, etc. Also, this year, how should we clarify the distribution of metabolites within cells? I would like to discuss the theory and method. Please check the link for more information about the program.

A symposium will be held by GTP-GEEKS members at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan, which will be held at the Kobe International Conference Center from December 6th to 8th. Sasaki and Iio will present from our laboratory. Please feel free to join us.

【overview】
Theme: Cell metabolism research advanced by multi-scale analysis
Date: Thursday, December 7th 9:30-11:45
Venue: Venue 14 (Kobe International Conference Center 5F No. 504+505)

10:55-11:10 Aki Iio (Ogawa)
"Visualization of intracellular GTP localization using G-SHINE probe and its applications"

11:25-11:40 Atsuo T.Sasaki
"Unexplored areas of GTP energy metabolism illuminated by spatiotemporal multiscale analysis"

Metastasis Symposium 2023 was held. HFSP collaborator Dr. Laura Machesky gave a talk as an invited speaker. From ATS Lab, Prof. Sasaki, Dr. Iio, and Dr. Fujii gave presentations.

On October 17th and 18th, we went to the 5G Retreat (workshop) with Keio members and Cancer Institute/Yokoyama Lab members. We learned a lot through many discussions.

The 6th GTP-Workshop at the 45th annual meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan (MBSJ). Organizers: Atsuo Sasaki, Ph.D. and Miki Senda, Ph.D. This will be an exciting session!

Dr. Sasaki is scheduled to talk at Scienc-ome, the hot science forum Scienc-ome focuses on producing anti-disciplinary science achieved by cross-reality (XR), an international team, high-risk projects and research from various fields such as life science, physics, mathematics, engineering, and artificial intelligence.

The 2022 UC Cancer Symposium will bein person in person. Dr. Sasaki will be one of the speakers, introducing the role of GTP metabolism in regulating subcellular dynamics. We envision an inspirational gathering!