Cell Signalling & Trafficking Structures

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor – Canada Research Chair in Cancer Structural Biology

EDUCATION:
Dr Ikura received his PhD in macromolecular biophysics from Hokkaido University, Japan in 1986 and pursued postdoctoral studies on multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy of proteins in the laboratory of Dr Ad Bax at the National Institutes of Health, USA.

RESEARCH INTERSTS:
Dr Ikura's current research interest centers on the structural biology of cellular signal transduction systems. In particular, he has been active in the field of Ca2+ signaling. His laboratory determined the three-dimensional structures of calmodulin in complex with various target molecules and most recently the crystal structure of the ligand binding core of the Ca2+ release channel, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. Other research focus of Dr Ikura's laboratory includes cell-cell interactions, transcriptional regulation, and bacterial signal transduction. Dr Ikura is also active in GFP-based FRET imaging microscopic studies of signaling molecules.