Masayuki Morita

Proteo-Science Center, Ehime UniversitySenior Assistant Professor*Profile is at the time of the award.

2019Inamori Research GrantsBiology & Life sciences

researchmap

Research topics: Malaria vaccine antigen discovery: Identification of parasite proteins interacting with CD55; a human protein essential for erythrocyte invasion

Keyword

Summary: Malaria is a serious infectious disease that affects humans, and mostly children. The disease is caused by malaria parasites which infect and develop within red blood cell (RBC). It’s the process of invading and rupturing of the infected RBC that greatly contributes to the disease symptoms such as anemia, fever, and consequently death. Although it is most likely that a malaria vaccine can eradicate the disease, currently, there is no such a vaccine in clinical use.
One important observation is that malaria parasites need to recognize and bind RBC proteins prior to invading these human cells. Recently, it was reported that malaria parasites have a substantially reduced efficiency to invade RBC lacking CD55; a RBC protein. While CD55 binding parasite proteins are considered as promising malaria vaccine candidates, there has been a serious challenge associated with production of recombinant malaria parasite proteins using conventional protein expression methods.
Wheat germ cell free system is a robust system capable of synthesizing recombinant malaria parasite proteins with high success rate. We have recently synthesized more than 2500 malaria parasite proteins using the system. In this study, we will screen the 2500 proteins to identify important CD55 binding partners, for downstream characterization as novel malaria vaccine candidates.

Message from recipient

It’s a great honor for me to be supported by Inamori foundation. Although there is no malaria in Japan, the disease is prevalent in tropical and subtropical region in the world. I consider the development of malaria vaccine in Japan a big contribution for global health improvement. I make every effort to produce significant achievements toward malaria eradication.

Find other recipients

Biology & Life sciences

Nami Minato

Hirohisa Ohno

Kyoto University

Yusuke Kobayashi

Michihito Kono

Yoshiyuki Manabe

Tokai University

Akari Fujimoto

Kyoko Miura

Kumamoto University

Ritsuko Morita

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Masakazu Hirota

Takeshi Kawabe

Medicine Biology & Life sciences

Mitsuaki Kashiwagi

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Mitsuru Tsuge

Okayama University

Kunihiko Morihiro

The University of Tokyo

Shunsuke Tagami

RIKEN

Hidenori Okamura

Tohoku University

Masato Yamamichi

Research Organization of Information and Systems

Takuya Matsumoto

Osaka Prefecture University

Yoshiaki Abe

University of Tsukuba

Yasuo Oguri

Life Science Biology & Life sciences

Asano Ishikawa

Research Organization of Information and Systems

Toshiyuki Kowada

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Masayuki Sakamoto

Kumamoto University

Seiya Takayanagi

Mizuki Watanabe

Hokkaido University

Nobuharu Suzuki

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Takumi Ogawa

Osaka Prefecture University

Taro Fuchikawa

Osaka City University

Junichi Kikuta

University of Tsukuba

Yu Fukasawa

Tohoku University

Kiyoharu Fukushima

Kyoto University

Masafumi Kodama

Biology & Life sciences

Tomomi Wakabayashi

Osaka University

Chie Aoki-Utsubo

Kobe University

Satoshi Minami

Osaka University

Kazuya Matsuo

Miyako Shiraishi

Osaka University

Teruhiko Imamura

Takayuki Suzuki

Nagoya University

Gosuke Hayashi

Pharmacy Biology & Life sciences

Toshiki Sawada

Material Science

Takahiro Masuda

Kenichi Watanabe

Katsuyoshi Takaoka

Yuji Sakai

Tokushima University

Kazuki Ide

Jumpei Taguchi

The University of Tokyo

Masashi Mamada

Material Science

Kenta Hirami

Tetsuya Kadonosono

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Taichi Itoh

Biology & Life sciences

Kenta Maruyama

Aichi Medical University

Akihiro Goto

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Hironori Takeda

Hiroshima University

Seiji Takashima

Shinshu University

Ayaka Ito

Takayuki Kuraishi

Kanazawa University

Chihiro Maeda

Material Science

June-Sik Kim

RIKEN

Yuhei Chadani

Okayama University

Takaaki Ozawa

Osaka University

Kenji Ikeda

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Akihiro Funamizu

Information Science

Tomonori Matsumoto

Medicine Biology & Life sciences

Takashi Tsuchimatsu

Chiba University

Tomoko Okamoto

Miharu Maeda

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Saori Morino-Koga

The University of Tokyo

Toshiro Moroishi

Azusa Kondoh

Pharmacy Biology & Life sciences

Hideaki Kato

The University of Tokyo

Yohei Hayashi

Tohoku University

Yoshihiro Ujihara

Nagoya Institute of Technology

Masayuki Tera

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Yuka Iwasaki

RIKEN

Yuta Hiraike

The University of Tokyo

Tomomi Koshiyama

Ritsumeikan University

Tsuyoshi Waku

Doshisha University

Misuzu Hashimoto

Gifu University

Masayuki Tsukasaki

The University of Tokyo

Mizuki Endo

Nobuhiko Yokoshi

Keio University

Koichi Murata

Kyoto University

Keiichiro Suzuki

Osaka University

Yusaku Iwasaki

Hidehisa Kawashima

University of Tsukuba

Masahiko Saito

Material Science

Hidenori Nishio

Nagoya City University

Takashi Shimada

Biology & Life sciences

Hitoshi Miyakawa

Utsunomiya University

Atsushi Fujimura

Okayama University

Makoto Kobayashi

Takuma Kokusho

Akihiro Nishiguchi

National Institute for Materials Science

Kotaro Mizuta

Kyoto University

Yuma Takahashi

Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Kunio Kondoh

Kyogo Kobayashi

Kyushu University

Kozue Shiomi

Biology & Life sciences

Yukiko Kimura

National Institutes of Natural Sciences

Yoshifumi Yamaguchi

Hokkaido University

InaRIS Fellow

Ayako Gotoh

Konan University

Kenichi Kimura

University of Tokyo

Keita Takahashi

Tomoya Yamaguchi

Kumamoto University

Taichi Noda

The University of Tokyo

Hisaaki Hirose

Osaka University

Ryo Fujimoto

Kobe University

Katsuma Hayashi

Kyoto University

Hiroshi Suzuki

Nagoya University

InaRIS Fellow

Yusuke Kimata

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Shintaro Munemasa

Okayama University

Kaori Sako

Kuniyasu Saitoh

Yoshihiro Sakita

Ayuko Hoshino

The University of Tokyo

InaRIS Fellow

Toyoaki Natsume

Research Organization of Information and Systems

Kazutoshi Iijima

Yokohama National University

Shohei Yamamoto

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Shun Shibata

Tohoku University

Hiroshi Masai

Material Science

Dana Ulanova

Kochi University

Jun-ichi Sakamaki

Juntendo University

So Nagaoka

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Daisuke Ono

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Hiroshi Miyanishi

University of Miyazaki

Yuki Honda

Material Science

Tomonori Nakamura

Kyoto University

Kenji Osabe

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Atsushi Saito

Sapporo Medical University

Kazuhiko Yamamuro

Hirofumi Toda

University of Tsukuba

Masahiro Morimoto

Takuya Motooka

Yukiko Kamiya

Takashi Iwasaki

Tottori University

Satoshi Miura

Information Science

Aiko Sada

Okayama University

Hiroshi Nomoto

Masashi Kanayama

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Masaki Uchida

Noriyoshi Usui

Osaka University

Shintaro Yamaguchi

Akihiko Mougi

Shimane University

Yosuke Togashi

Medicine Biology & Life sciences

Masaru Hojo

Kwansei Gakuin University

Tomoyuki Furuta

Okayama University

Akiko Ogawa

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Kazutoshi Kasho

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Minako Ito

Yuichiro Mishima

Kyoto Sangyo University

Takashi Fukaya

The University of Tokyo

Daisuke Takimoto

Material Science

Hiroyoshi Y. Tanaka

Okayama University

Masanori Nomoto

University of Toyama

Takumi Suzuki

Ibaraki University

Kazunori Kume

Takashi Tanaka

Miu Tamamitsu

The University of Tokyo

Takanori Wakatake

Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Shunsuke Kon

Tokyo University of Science

Tomohisa Hosokawa

Nagoya University

Hidefumi Shinohara

Nagoya University

Daisuke Ino

Osaka University

Shohei Nosaki

University of Tsukuba

Satoshi Iwakami

Kyoto University

Chikara Abe

Gifu University

Tsuyoshi Terakawa

Kyoto University

Yuto Takenaka

Ritsumeikan University

Hiroshi Nishimasu

The University of Tokyo

InaRIS Fellow

Atsushi Anzai

Biology & Life sciences Medicine

Susumu Jitsuki

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Tomohiro Otsuka

Tsuyoshi Hirashima

Kyoto University

Ryusuke Hatae

Kyushu University

Wakana Tanaka

The University of Tokyo

Akiko Kanehara

Shizue Ohsawa

Nagoya University

Shu Nakao

Ritsumeikan University

Rie Wakabayashi

Kyushu University

Koji Atarashi

Hideaki Morishita

Biology & Life sciences Life Science

Tomomi Tsunematsu

Hokkaido University