Seiji SAKAMOTO

Seiji Sakamoto was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1970 and received his Ph.D. in 1999 from Tokyo Institute of Technology under the guidance of Professor Hisakazu Mihara.

From 1999-2001, he worked as a PostDoc (JSPS) in Donald Hilvert laboratory in Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich).
From 2001-2002, he worked as an assistant professor in Institute of Advanced Energy in Kyoto University.
From 2002-2008, he worked as an assistant professor in Institute of Industrial Science in University of Tokyo.
From 2008-2017, he worked as an assistant professor in Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials in Tohoku University.
From 2017-, he worked as an assistant professor in Itaru Hamachi laboratory in Kyoto University.
In 2022, he was promoted to a program specific associate professor. From 2025-, he works as a Program-Specific Researcher.

His research interests include protein & peptide engineering and chemical biology.

＜Paper List＞

Article

54. S. Sakamoto, K. Shiraiwa, M. Wang, M. Ishikawa, H. Nonaka,* I. Hamachi*, In-brain synthesis of receptor-based protease sensors by coupling ligand-directed chemistry and click chemistry, Nature Synthesis, 4, 1128-1140 (2025)　doi: 10.1038/s44160-025-00815-6 Open Access

53. M. Takato, S. Sakamoto, H. Nonaka, F. Y. Tanimura Valor, T. Tamura*, I. Hamachi*, Photoproximity labeling of endogenous receptors in the live mouse brain in minutes, Nature Chemical Biology, 21, 109-119 (2025)　doi: 10.1038/s41589-024-01692-4

52. H. Nonaka, S. Sakamoto, K. Shiraiwa, M. Ishikawa, T. Tamura, K. Okuno, T. Kondo, S. Kiyonaka, E. A. Susaki, C. Shimizu, H. R. Ueda, W. Kakegawa, I. Arai, M. Yuzaki, I. Hamachi*, Bioorthogonal chemical labeling of endogenous neurotransmitter receptors in living mouse brains, Proceeding of National Academy of Science of USA, 6: 2313887121 (2024)　doi: 10.1073/pnas.2313887121 Open Access

51. Hugo R. Arias, Philippe De Deurwaerdère, Petra Scholze, Seiji Sakamoto, Itaru Hamachi, Giuseppe Di Giovanni, Abdeslam Chagraoui, Coronaridine congeners induce sedative and anxiolytic-like activity in naive and stressed/anxious mice by allosteric mechanisms involving increased GABAA receptor affinity for GABA, European Journal of Pharmacology, 953: 175854 (2023)　doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2023.175854

50. Hiroshi Nonaka, Takeharu Mino, Seiji Sakamoto, Jae Hoon Oh, Yu Watanabe, Mamoru Ishikawa, Akihiro Tsushima, Kazuma Amaike, Shigeki Kiyonaka, Tomonori Tamura, A. Radu Aricescu, Wataru Kakegawa, Eriko Miura, Michisuke Yuzaki, Itaru Hamachi*, Revisiting PFA-mediated tissue fixation chemistry: FixEL enables trapping of small molecules in the brain to visualize their distribution changes, Chem, 9, 2, 523-540 (2023)　doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2022.11.005 Open Access

49. Hugo R Arias*, Spencer R. Pierce, Allison L. Germann, Sophia Q. Xu, Marcelo O. Ortells, Seiji Sakamoto, Dina Manetti, Maria Novella Romanelli, Itaru Hamachi, Gustav Akk, Chemical, Pharmacological, and Structural Characterization of Novel Acrylamide-Derived Modulators of the GABAA Receptor, Molecular Pharmacology, 104, 115(2023)　doi: 10.1124/molpharm.123.000692 Open Access

48. Hugo R. Arias, Allison L. Germann, Spencer R. Pierce, Seiji Sakamoto, Marcelo O. Ortells, Itaru Hamachi, Gustav Akk, Modulation of the mammalian GABAA receptor by type I and type II positive allosteric modulators of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, British Journal of Pharmacology, 179, 24, 5323-5337 (2022)　doi:10.1111/bph.15948 Open Access

47. Kotaro Takano, Shunsuke Arai, Seiji Sakamoto, Hiroshi Ushijima, Takahisa Ikegami, Kazumi Saikusa, Tsuyoshi Konuma, Itaru Hamachi, Satoko Akashi, Screening of protein-ligand interactions under crude conditions by native mass spectrometry, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 412:4037-4043 (2020)　doi:10.1007/s00216-020-02649-x

46. Seiji Sakamoto, Kei Yamaura, Tomohiro Numata, Fumio Harada, Kazuma Amaike, Ryuji Inoue, Shigeki Kiyonaka, Itaru Hamachi, Construction of a Fluorescent Screening System of Allosteric Modulators for the GABAA Receptor Using a Turn-On Probe, ACS Central Science, 5, 9, 1541-1553 (2019)　doi:10.1021/acscentsci.9b00539 Open Access

45. Shigeki Kiyonaka, Seiji Sakamoto, Sho Wakayama,Yuma Morikawa, Muneo Tsujikawa, Itaru Hamachi, Ligand-directed chemistry of AMPA receptors confers live-cell fluorescent biosensors, ACS Chemical Biology, 13, 7, 1880–1889 (2018)　doi: 10.1021/acschembio.7b01042

44. Hiroka Sugai, Ikuhiko Nakase, Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Nishio, Masahito Inagaki, Masahito, Masaki Nishijima, Asako Yamayoshi, Tasuyuki Araki, Satoru Ishibashi, Takanori Yokota, Takanori, Yoshihisa Inoue, Takehiko Wada, Peptide Ribonucleic Acid (PRNA)-Arginine Hybrids. Effects of Arginine Residues Alternatingly Introduced to PRNA Backbone on Aggregation, Cellular Uptake, and Cytotoxicity, Chem. Lett., 47, 381-384 (2018)

43. Yuji Itoh, Agato Nurata, Seiji Sakamoto, Kei Nanatani, Takehiko Wada, Satoshi Takahashi, Kiyota Kamagata, Activation of p53 Facilitates the Target Search in DNA by Enhancing the Target Recognition Probability, J. Mol. Biol., 428, 2916-2930 (2016)

42. Ryohei Uematsu, Masahito Inagaki, AMitsuo Asai, Hiroka Sugai, MYoshiki Maeda, Akira Nagasaki, Hirofumi Sato, Seiji Sakamoto, Yasuyuki Araki, Masaki Nishijima, Yoshihisa Inoue, and Takehiko Wada, Module Strategy for Peptide Ribonucleic Acid (PRNA)-DNA and PRNA-Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA)-DNA Cahimeras. Synthesis and Interaction of Chimeras with DNA and RNA, Chem. Lett., 45, 350-352 (2016)

41. Seiji Sakamoto, Mika Terauchi, Yasuyuki Araki, and Takehiko Wada, Design and Semi-Synthesis of Photoactivable Split-GFP by Incorporation of A Photocleavable Functionality, Biopolymers – Peptide Science, 773-779 (2013)

40. Seiji Sakamoto, Mika Terauchi, Anna Hugo, Yasuyuki Araki, Takehiko Wada, Creation of A Caspase-3 Sensing System Using A Combination of Split-GFP and Split-Intein, Chem. Commun., 49, 10323-10325 (2013)

39. Makoto Murakami, Yasuyuki Araki, Seiji Sakamoto, Yoshiki Hamada, and Takehiko Wada, Remarkable Enhancement of Sensitivity with the Second Generation of Elliptically Polarization-detected Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy, Chem. Lett., 42, 261-261 (2013)

38. Takehiko Wada, Masaki Nishijima, Seiji Sakamoto, Makoto Murakami, Yui Sugawara, Yasuyuki Araki, Yoshihisa Inoue, Novel Strategy of Supramolecular Asymmetric Photochirogenesis with Tailor-Made Biopolymers as Chiral Reaction Fields, Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, 24, 595-596 (2011)

37. Kengo Akagawa, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Synthesis of Indenes by Intramolecular Morita-Baylis-Hillman Reaction in Aqueous Media Catalyzed by Resin-Supported Proline, SYNLETT., 817-820 (2011)

36. Kengo Akagawa, Takuma Fujiwara, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, One-Pot Sequential Alcohol Oxidation and Asymmetric α-Oxyamination in Aqueous Media using Recyclable Resinsupported Peptide Catalyst, Chem. Commun., 8040-8042 (2010)

35. Kengo Akagawa, Takuma Fujiwara, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Efficient Asymmetric α-Oxyamination of Aldehydes by Resin-Suppoted Peptide Catalyst in Aqueous Media, Org. Lett., 12, 1804-1807 (2010)

34. Takehiko Wada, Nobuya. Sawa, Hirofumi Sato, Mayuko Kikkawa, Keiko Onodera, Seiji Sakamoto, Yoshihisa Inoue, Active Control by External Factors of DNA Recognition Behavior of α-Peptide Ribonucleic Acids Containing Basic Amino Acid Residues, Chem. Lett., 39, 112-113 (2010)

33. Kengo Akagawa, Takuhiro Yamashita, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Friedel-Crafts Type Alkylation in Aqueous Media using Resin Supported Peptide Catalyst having Polyleucine, Tetrahedron Lett., 50, 5602-5604 (2009)

32. Kengo Akagawa, Hajime Akabane, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation in Aqueous Media Catalyzed by Resin-Supported Peptide having Polyleucine Tether, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 20, 461-466 (2009)

31. Masahiro Furutani, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Cyclo[-His-His-] Derived C2-Symmetric Diketopiperazine as Chiral Ligand for Asymmetric Diels-Alder Reactions, Heterocycles, 78, 1171-1176 (2009)

30. Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Supramolecular Control of Split-GFP Reassembly by Conjugation of β-Cyclodextrin and Coumarin Units, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130, 9574-9582 (2008)

29. Kengo Akagawa, Hajime Akabane, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Organocatalytic Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation in Aqueous Media using Resin-Supported Peptide having Polyleucine, Org. Lett., 2035-2037 (2008)

28. Kazutoshi Murota, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Glucose Responsive Two-step Release of Hydrogel-Immobilized Protein, Chem. Lett., 37, 582-583 (2008).

27. Kazutoshi Murota, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Reversible Immobilization of Protein into Hydrogel Using Designed Coiled-coil Peptides, Chem. Lett., 36, 1320-1321 (2007)

26. Kazutoshi Murota, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Orientation Control of Self-stacking D,L-Alternating Cyclic Octa-α-peptide through Multiple Electrostatic Interactions, Chem. Lett., 36, 1070 - 1071 (2007)

25. Kengo Akagawa, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Resin-supported acid- and base-catalyzed one-pot sequential reaction including an enantioselective step, Tetrahedron Lett., 48, 985-987 (2007)

24. Seiji Sakamoto, Hidekazu Fukushima, Kazuaki Kudo, Regulation of Catalytic Activity of Peptide-Heme Conjugate by Conformational Change with Trifluoroethanol, Chem. Lett., 35, 584-585 (2006)

23. Kazuaki Kudo, Takahiro Imai, Takashi Hamada, Seiji Sakamoto, Synthesis of Blue Emitting Alicyclic Polyimides using One-pot Alternating Copolymerization Method, High Perform. Polym., 18, 749-759 (2006)

22. Kazuaki Kudo, Takuya Yoshizawa, Takashi Hamada, Jun Li, Seiji Sakamoto, Shinsaku Shiraishi, One-Pot Synthesis of an Alternating Copolyimide Based on Regioselective Reaction of a Non-Symmetrical Alicyclic Dianhydride, Macromol, Rapid Commun., 27, 1430-1436 (2006)

21. Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Design and Synthesis of Semi-Artificial Myoglobin Possessing DNA-Binding Peptides on Heme Propionates, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 78, 1749-1756 (2005)

20. Kengo Akagawa, Seiji Sakamoto, Kazuaki Kudo, Direct asymmetric aldol reaction in aqueous media using polymer-supported peptide, Tetrahedron Lett., 46, 8185-8187 (2005)

19. Seiji Sakamoto, Atsushi Itoh, Kazuaki Kudo, Artificial Assembly of Myoglobin and Flavodoxin Reductase Using Designed Coiled-coil Peptides, Chem. Lett., 1202-1203 (2004)

18. Seiji Sakamoto, Atsushi Itoh, Kazuaki Kudo, Susumu Yoshikawa, De Novo Design, Synthesis, and Function of Semi-Artificial Myoglobin Conjugated with Coiled-Coil Two-α-Helix Peptides, Chem. Eur. J., 10, 3717-3726 (2004)

17. Seiji Sakamoto, Ippei Okano, Kazuaki Kudo, Design of FAD-binding Peptide Using a Combinatorial α-Helix Peptide Library, Chem. Lett., 978-979 (2004)

16. Ikuo Obataya, Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Design and Synthesis of 3α-Helix Peptides Forming a Cavity for a Fluorescent Ligand, Biopolymers, 59, 65-71 (2001)

15. Ikuo Obataya, Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Design, Synthesis and Peroxidase-like Activity of 3α-Helix Proteins Covalently Bound to Heme, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 10, 2719-2722 (2000)

14. Sachiko Matsumura, Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Construction of α-Helix Peptides with β-Cyclodextrin and Dansyl Units and Their Conformational and Molecular Sensing Properties, Chem. Eur. J., 6, 1781-1788 (2000)

13. Tetsuya Haruyama, Seiji Sakamoto, Hisakazu Mihara, Masuo Aizawa, Electron Transfer of Flavin-pendant α-Helical Peptides Self-Assembled on an Electrode, Electrochemistry, 67, 1221-1223 (1999)

12. Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Effects of Amino Acids Substitution of Hydrophobic Residues on Haem-Binding Properties of Designed Two-α-Helix Peptides, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans., 2, 2059-2069 (1999)

11. Seiji Sakamoto, Ikuo Obataya, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Regulation of α/β-Folding of a Designed Peptide by Haem Binding, Chem. Commun., 1111-1112 (1999)

10. Ikuo Obataya, Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Nanoparticle Formation of Self-Assembled Two-α-Helix Peptide Induced by Heme-Binding, Protein and Peptide Letters, 6, 141-144 (1999)

9. Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Design and Synthesis of Haem-Binding Peptides. Relationship between Haem-Binding Properties and Catalytic Activities, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans., 2, 2395-2404 (1998)

8. Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Molecular Assembly of Two-α-Helix Peptide Induced by Haem Binding, Chem. Commun., 1073-1074 (1998)

7. Seiji Sakamoto, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Annealing of Two-α-Helix Structure by Metal Ion Binding Regulated with Trifluoroethanol, Chem. Lets., 867-868 (1998)

6. Seiji Sakamoto, Shigeo Sakurai, Akihiko Ueno, Hisakazu Mihara, Haem Binding and Catalytic Activity of Two-α-Helix Peptide Annealed by Trifluoroethanol, Chem. Commun., 1221-1222 (1997)

5. Seiji Sakamoto, Haruhiko Aoyagi, Naotoshi Nakashima, Hisakazu Mihara, Design and Synthesis of Flavin-Conjugated Peptides and Assembly on a Gold Electrode, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans., 2, 2319-2326 (1996)

4. Hisakazu Mihara, Yasuaki Haruta, Seiji Sakamoto, Norikazu Nishino, Haruhiko Aoyagi, Chiral Assembly of Porphyrins Regulated by Amphiphilic α-Helix Peptides, Chem. Lett., 1-2 (1996)

3. Hisakazu Mihara, Kin-ya Tomizaki, Tsutomu Fujimoto, Seiji Sakamoto, Haruhiko Aoyagi, Norikazu Nishino, Artificial Membrane Protein Functionalized with Electron Transfer System, Chem. Lett., 187-188 (1996)

2. Seiji Sakamoto, Hisakazu Mihara, Eitarou Matsuo, Takuro Niidome, Kazunori Anzai, Yutaka Kirino, Haruhiko Aoyagi, Enhanced Membrane-Perturbing Activities of Bundled Amphiphilic α-Helix Polypeptides on Interaction with Phospholipid Bilayer, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 68, 2931-2939 (1995)

1. Hisakazu Mihara, Shuko Maeda, Ryo Kurosaki, Satoko Ueno, Seiji Sakamoto, Takuro Niidome, Hironobu Hojo, Saburo Aimoto, Haruhiko Aoyagi, Peptide Synthesis Mediated by Thiolsubtilisin Using Peptide Thioester as Building Block, Chem. Lett., 397-398 (1995)

Review

6. Seiji Sakamoto, Itaru Hamachi*, Click Chemistry for Protein Modification in Live Cells and In Vivo, Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry, Electronic ISSN 1861-9290 (2026)　doi: 10.1007/7081_2025_102

5. Takeharu Mino, Hiroshi Nonaka, Seiji Sakamoto, Jae Hoon Oh, Itaru Hamachi*, Protocol to visualize the distribution of exogenously administered small molecules in the mouse brain, STAR Protocols, 4,3,102555(2023)　　doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102555 Open Access

4. Seiji Sakamoto, Itaru Hamachi*, Ligand-directed chemistry for protein labeling for affinity-based protein analysis, Israel Journal of Chemistry, e202200077 (2023)　doi: 10.1002/ijch.202200077

3. Takeharu Mino, Seiji Sakamoto, Itaru Hamachi*, Recent applications of N-acyl imidazole chemistry in chemical biology, Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 85, 1, 53-60 (2021)　doi:10.1093/bbb/zbaa026 Open Access

2. Seiji Sakamoto, Shigeki Kiyonaka, Itaru Hamachi, Construction of ligand assay systems by protein-based semisynthetic biosensors, Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 50, 10-18 (2019)　doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2019.02.011

1. Seiji SAKAMOTO and Itaru HAMACHI, Recent Progress in Chemical Modification of Proteins, Analytical Sciences, 35(1), 5-27 (2019)　doi:10.2116/analsci.18R003

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