Academic Staff

I have an interest in the relationship between chemistry and organisms in seawater. A plenty of carbon is stored in the ocean as small organic molecules termed “dissolved organic matter (DOM)”. More than half of DOM escapes biological degradation and remains in seawater for several thousand years. We are looking for the answers to the following questions: What compounds are the component of refractory DOM? What is the factor that determines whether marine organisms can break down DOM or not? Which metabolic pathways do make up refractory DOM?
Recently, we started researching Sakura shrimp (Lucensosergia lucens) that is a specialty of the Suruga Bay near our campus. Reddish color of Sakura shrimp is made from an antioxidant carotenoid, astaxanthin. Sakura shrimp cannot synthesize astaxanthin, and they obtain astaxanthin and astaxanthin precursors from diet. We research transformation of carotenoids at trophic levels of food-chain and evaluate the marine food-chain as a transfer pathway of antioxidants.
Our studies will help to facilitate ocean carbon sequestration and aquatic resource conservation.