The Sando Research Group

Our research is based on large-scale molecular generation and high-throughput functional analysis. We systematically create and evaluate structurally diverse biomolecules to quantitatively understand the relationship between molecular structural diversity and biological function, and to achieve precise control of molecular activities.

Through this approach, we aim to decipher the biomolecular codes (design principles) that govern key biological properties such as membrane permeability, disease specificity, and tissue-specific delivery, which are critical for nucleic acid therapeutics and peptide-based drug discovery. These insights enable the development of next-generation therapeutic agents.

Our major application areas include disease-oriented chemical biology and the development of middle-molecule therapeutic modalities.

Disease Biomarker Discovery

In Vivo Metabolic Imaging

Peptide Drug Discovery

Chemical Biology of Lipids

We conduct cutting-edge research in molecular diagnostics and medicine, including the discovery of disease biomarkers, the development of in vivo metabolic imaging technologies that enable early diagnosis, and metabolism-based approaches to drug discovery.

One of the major challenges in the early diagnosis of diseases and in therapeutic development is the severe shortage of disease-specific biomarkers, such as proteases. Building on large-scale metabolic profiling enabled by peptide libraries and DNA-encoded technologies, we are advancing the discovery of biomarkers tailored to specific diseases and pathological states.

We develop molecular probes for disease metabolic imaging based on original designs grounded in organic chemistry.

We are pioneering synthetic methodologies for medium-sized molecules, building high-throughput screening platforms, and discovering medium-sized molecules with novel functions.

We are advancing research on peptides and peptidomimetics based on our original molecular design technologies, aiming to develop tools for biomolecular manipulation and innovative peptide-based therapeutics. We also aim to realize functional peptides through our original DNA-encoded peptide libraries and data science approaches.

Lipids represent the “fourth class” of essential biomolecules in life, yet vast areas of lipid biology remain unexplored. This is largely due to the lack of technologies for designing and synthesizing lipids. We are developing a systematic platform for lipid development through solid-phase and automated synthesis combined with large-scale chemistry, enabling us to uncover previously unknown biological functions of lipids and to pioneer novel lipid-based therapeutic modalities.