時間：2026-10-05(一) 11:10 am

講題：Data-driven Engineering Biology for Biomanufacturing: The Power of Accurate and Scalable Data Acquisition

講者 :  Prof. Tomohisa Hasunuma

服務單位：Engineering Biology Research Center / Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University

地點：4樓創意講堂

主持人：莊怡哲教授

摘要：

Engineering biology provides a powerful framework for designing biological systems for sustainable production of chemicals, materials, fuels, food, and pharmaceuticals. Recent advances in genome engineering, laboratory automation, high-throughput experimentation, analytical technologies, and computational science have greatly expanded the accessible design space. However, the quality of biological design ultimately depends on the quality of the experimental data on which it is based. Generating accurate, quantitative, and reproducible data at scale is therefore a critical foundation for data-driven engineering biology.

At the Engineering Biology Research Center of Kobe University, we are developing an integrated Smart Cell Development Platform that connects computational design, automated experimentation, advanced measurement, and data analysis through iterative Design–Build–Test–Learn (DBTL) cycles. Automated sample preparation and metabolomics enable reproducible characterization of cellular metabolism, while robotic enzyme assays generate systematic datasets for enzyme discovery and engineering.

Using these capabilities, we developed MUSASHI, a sequence clustering-based approach combined with automated experimental characterization, to identify highly active and promiscuous enzymes from large protein sequence spaces. We further demonstrated that enzyme selection for biomanufacturing should consider not only in vitro catalytic properties but also performance within cellular metabolic networks, as illustrated by the superior performance of amino acid deaminases over transaminases for α-keto acid production. More recently, by integrating sequence-based enzyme selection, computational design, and experimental validation, we engineered a toluene/o-xylene monooxygenase for highly meta-selective sequential hydroxylation of biphenyl, enabling biosynthesis of 3,3′-dihydroxybiphenyl, a valuable precursor for high-performance polymers.

These studies illustrate how high-quality laboratory-generated data can be transformed into actionable knowledge for enzyme selection, enzyme engineering, and metabolic pathway design. In this presentation, I will introduce our Smart Cell Development Platform and discuss how the integration of laboratory automation, high-throughput measurement, computational design, and data-driven DBTL can accelerate microbial cell factory development and pave the way toward AI-assisted and autonomous engineering biology.

經歷：

Tomohisa Hasunuma is the Director of Engineering Biology Research Center, and concurrently serves as a Professor at the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation at Kobe University, Japan. He earned his B.Sc. (1998), M.Sc. (2000) and PhD (2004) in the Department of Biotechnology at Osaka University, Japan. In 2004, Dr. Hasunuma joined Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), before transitioning to Kobe University in 2008. From 2011 to 2014, he held the position of the Researcher for Precursory Research in Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) under the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Dr Hasunuma has led major biotech-related projects in Japan, including those funded by NEDO and JST. Currently, as the director of the Bio-Manufacturing Collaborative Research Center at Kobe University, he is dedicated to forming an ecosystem for industry-government-academia collaboration related to bio-manufacturing. Dr. Hasunuma has authored over 250 peer-reviewed journal papers and 90 reviews and book chapters, and has filed more than 170 patents. Since 2024, he has served as an Associate Editor of ACS Synthetic Biology, and since 2025, he has served on the Editorial Boards of Metabolic Engineering and Current Opinion in Biotechnology. His research focuses on engineering biology of microorganisms such as yeast, Escherichia coli, cyanobacteria and microalgae with a particular emphasis on metabolic engineering based on metabolism analysis for the production of biofuels, commodity chemicals and highly functional compounds from renewable biomass and carbon dioxide. Dr. Hasunuma was awarded the Fermentation and Metabolism Research Prize of Japan Bioindustry Association in 2013 and the Biotechnology Encouragement Prize of Biotechnology Society of Japan in 2014.