Akane Kawamura

Akane Kawamura
Alma mater	University of Oxford
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Oxford Newcastle University
Thesis	Structural investigations of arylamine N-acetyltransferases from eukaryotes  (2005)
Doctoral advisor	Edith Sim
Other academic advisors	Christopher J. Schofield

Akane Kawamura is a Japanese chemist who is Professor of Chemical Biology at Newcastle University in the UK. Her research considers the chemistry of epigenetics. She was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Jeremy Knowles Award for her development of chemical probes to study biological processes.

Early life and education

Kawamura was an undergraduate student in chemistry at the University of Oxford.^{[ citation needed ]} She remained at Oxford for graduate research, where she worked alongside Edith Sim on structural investigations into eukaryotes. ^[1] After completing her doctorate, she moved into the biotechnology sector, where she worked on drug discovery.^{[ citation needed ]} She returned to academia in 2009, when she joined Christopher J. Schofield at Oxford and worked on the development of chemical probes. ^{[2] [3]}

Research and career

In 2012, Kawamura was awarded a British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Senior Fellowship and a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship. ^[2] She was made a lecturer in 2016 and an associate professor in 2019.^{[ citation needed ]} Her research considers epigenetics, with a focus on the methylation of DNA. She studies the enzymes and proteins that regulate methylation states.

In 2023, Kawamura was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Jeremy Knowles Award for her work on the development of chemical probes to study biological processes. ^{[4] [5]}

Selected publications

• Rasheduzzaman Chowdhury; Kar Kheng Yeoh; Ya-Min Tian; et al. (May 2011). "The oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate inhibits histone lysine demethylases". EMBO Reports . 12 (5): 463–9. doi:10.1038/EMBOR.2011.43. ISSN   1469-221X. PMC   3090014 . PMID   21460794. Wikidata   Q27667409.
• Nathan R Rose; Michael A McDonough; Oliver N F King; Akane Kawamura; Christopher J. Schofield (10 March 2011). "Inhibition of 2-oxoglutarate dependent oxygenases". Chemical Society Reviews . 40 (8): 4364–4397. doi:10.1039/C0CS00203H. ISSN   0306-0012. PMID   21390379. Wikidata   Q28306956.
• Oliver N F King; Xuan Shirley Li; Masaaki Sakurai; et al. (23 November 2010). "Quantitative High-Throughput Screening Identifies 8-Hydroxyquinolines as Cell-Active Histone Demethylase Inhibitors". PLOS One . 5 (11): e15535. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...515535K. doi: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0015535 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   2990756 . PMID   21124847. Wikidata   Q27666155.

References

1. "Structural investigations of arylamine N-acetyltransferases from eukaryotes | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
2. "Akane Kawamura – Kawamura Research Group" . Retrieved 2023-06-18.
3. Kawamura, Akane; Münzel, Martin; Kojima, Tatsuya; Yapp, Clarence; Bhushan, Bhaskar; Goto, Yuki; Tumber, Anthony; Katoh, Takayuki; King, Oliver N. F.; Passioura, Toby; Walport, Louise J.; Hatch, Stephanie B.; Madden, Sarah; Müller, Susanne; Brennan, Paul E. (2017-04-06). "Highly selective inhibition of histone demethylases by de novo macrocyclic peptides". Nature Communications. 8 (1) 14773. Bibcode:2017NatCo...814773K. doi:10.1038/ncomms14773. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5384220 . PMID   28382930.
4. "University duo win prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Prizes". Press Office. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
5. "Professor Akane Kawamura - 2023 Chemistry Biology Interface mid-career Prize: Jeremy Knowles Award winner". Royal Society of Chemistry. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 2023-06-18.