Dear all,

We will have a luncheon seminar by Prof. Kazuhito Fujiyama on June 15, 2009.
The seminar will start at 12:10 in a meeting room (# 503) on 5F of the GSE Common EAST (U1E) building (Kohso-toh).
Title and abstract of his lecture are shown below,

Topic: Plants as bioreactor for production of recombinant pharmaceuticals, and glycoengineering

World demand for pharmaceuticals, particularly antibody, will increase year by year. However, projections show a potential shortfall by 2008 for capacity of mammalian cell culture. Recently, plants have gained attention as bioreactor because the most advantage of plant systems is free of human pathogens and feasible low-cost.
Antibodies carry carbohydrates, which are critical to express biological activities. However, the structures of carbohydrates are different among yeasts, insects, plants and mammals. So we have to overcome this carbohydrate issues for practical use of plant-made pharmaceuticals. In my talk, I will explain glycobiology and discuss our technology for glycoengineering.

Regards,
Nishizawa and Suenobu