Protein Engineering and Evolution Unit | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology OIST

News & Highlights

September 1st: We welcome Monte as a new PhD student in our lab and Marina and Tammy as rotation students
August 31st: Goodbye Dan and Yi Jiun!
June 18th: Today we said goodbye to Paul! Good Luck in Europe!
March 10th: Today we said goodbye to Elsie. Good Luck in New Zealand!
February 27th: 2026 PhD Graduation Ceremony with two former students of our group: Congrats Dan and Yoshiki!

Archive of News & Highlights

Research Overview

Our research applies chemical approaches and protein engineering to study and manipulate protein functions. We are interested in exploring the evolution of cofactors/substrates and their binding proteins, and generating artificial enzymes. We would like to apply synthetic biology tools for triggering cellular responses and studying metabolic pathways, and to explore challenging chemical transformations.

If you are interested in exciting research at the interface between biochemistry, molecular biology, organic chemistry and bioinformatics please contact us (paola.laurino@oist.jp).

We are looking for a Postdoc fellow to join the lab, if interested pls contact paola.laurino@oist.jp

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Recent Podcasts

Peter Gruss and Paola Laurino

Unravelling enzymes with Prof. Paola Laurino

This episode, Lucy speaks to Prof. Paola Laurino about her research looking at the structure, function, and evolution of enzymes, a group of proteins that facilitates vital chemical reactions for living organisms.

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Unit News

OIST Associate Professor Paola Laurino

Institutional News

Unveiling the molecular survival strategies of earth’s most abundant marine bacteria — A paradigm shift in life sciences

Prof. Paola Laurino became a finalist in the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough 2025 in Life Sciences.

A poster featuring Dr. Paola Laurino

Institutional News

Tiny ocean microbes have big ecological impact

In recognition of research with the greatest potential to address the ecological crisis, the 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize from Japan was awarded to OIST professor, Dr. Paola Laurino.

Artist impression of the transport proteins of SAR11 bacteria.

Research Update

How the oceans’ most abundant bacteria impact global nutrient flows

A new Nature paper has revealed how key bacterial proteins contribute to global carbon, sulfur and other nutrient cycles.

Rendering of chemotaxis in synthetic droplets

Research Update

Synthetic droplets cause a stir in the primordial soup

A synthetic droplet may give researchers clues on how simplest forms of life on the planet could navigate their surroundings.

Coenzyme Switch: Researchers Recreate the Way Nature Changes Coenzyme Binding on Rossmann Enzymes

Research Update

Coenzyme Switch: Researchers Recreate the Way Nature Changes Coenzyme Binding on Rossmann Enzymes

Using insertions and deletions, researchers switch the coenzyme binding of a protein providing the first evidence of a link between distinct chemistries.

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Conferences & Workshops

Library Design for Protein Engineering 2023

Library Design for Protein Engineering 2023

The aim of this symposium is to equip PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in the field of protein engineering with a broad knowledge of computational tools and experimental techniques available for library design and creation.

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Protein Engineering and Evolution Unit

06 November 2023 - 09 November 2023

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Research Specialties

Biochemistry

Biophysics

Chemistry

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