Kyushu University is a leader of insect genomics in Asia, with more than a century of research behind it. And at the center of it all is Professor Kusakabe and his silkworms. Affectionately known as Dr. Silkworm, Prof. Kusakabe juggles multiple projects to produce genetically engineered silkworm proteins for the benefit of humankind.
Born and raised in the city of Fukuoka, Prof. Kusakabe spent his childhood fishing and catching insects. After high school, he entered the School of Agriculture at Kyushu University, where he developed an interest in genetic engineering and majored in silkworm science. As an undergraduate, he decided to do a domestic exchange at Saga Medical School on the advice of a teacher. He would later go on to complete a master's program at the same school in 1990. That same year, he joined Meiji Dairies Corporation where he studied koji mold as a researcher at the company's Health Science Laboratory. After leaving Meiji in 1993, he spent two years as an assistant professor of biochemistry at the Saga Medical School while pursuing a doctorate in agriculture at Kyushu University, which he completed in 1994. Again, upon the suggestion of a teacher, he traveled to Harvard Medical School, where he conducted DNA replication research as a postdoctoral fellow from 1995 to 1997, the year that he would return to Kyushu University for good. He returned to his roots, working as a researcher at the silkworm science lab, until assuming his current post in 2011. After helping establish the Research Center for New Industry Creation in the Entomological Sciences at the Faculty of Agriculture, in April 2018 he founded KAICO, a venture company and Kyushu University's first silkworm startup, to commercialize the university's silkworm factory in collaboration with the School of Engineering. Prof. Kusakabe is now a leader of silkworm science at Kyushu University, driving more than a century of silkworm research further into the future.
Prof. Kusakabe is straightforward and articulate in his manner of speech. Kyushu University’s silkworm research has been gaining media attention for KAICO, its big bug startup.
In the lab stands a bronze of Prof. Yoshimaro Tanaka, the founder of the Laboratory of Silkworm Sciences at Kyushu University. He stands quietly, keeping a watchful eye over his successors’ research.
Prof. Kusakabe spends his days with fellow researchers comparing, verifying, and testing protein data extracted from silkworms. It’s hard work, but it’s satisfying when test results turn out as expected. But he says that even when they don’t, it’s always exciting to try and figure out why!
Prof. Kusakabe is straightforward and articulate in his manner of speech. Kyushu University’s silkworm research has been gaining media attention for KAICO, its big bug startup.
In the lab stands a bronze of Prof. Yoshimaro Tanaka, the founder of the Laboratory of Silkworm Sciences at Kyushu University. He stands quietly, keeping a watchful eye over his successors’ research.
Prof. Kusakabe spends his days with fellow researchers comparing, verifying, and testing protein data extracted from silkworms. It’s hard work, but it’s satisfying when test results turn out as expected. But he says that even when they don’t, it’s always exciting to try and figure out why!
Simply put, we are studying the efficient production of proteins using silkworm bioresources. We extract the genes of useful proteins from various organisms and insert them into a vector, a virus that can act as a gene carrier. We then take this genetically modified virus and infect silkworms to produce recombinant proteins.
In 2017, we ended a seven-year search when we found a silkworm capable of producing large amounts of proteins that we can use to make vaccines and other pharmaceutical materials. Live vaccines for infectious diseases are usually made by replicating attenuated viruses, which are injected into fertilized chicken eggs and other animal cells. However, the downside to using these vaccines is that most of them are patented outside of Japan, adding time to the vaccine development process. And considering possible side effects, we can't say that live vaccines are entirely risk-free. With vector-based, genetically modified vaccines, on the other hand, we can quickly produce safe vaccines domestically at lower costs, which is certainly an advantage. Even so, the domestic market for vaccine development remains quite small, due in part to already existing vaccines and the absence of infrastructure for genetically modified vaccine development.
But what would we do if an unknown virus were to spread across Japan? With current live vaccines taking ten months or more to produce, we wouldn't be able to respond in time if a pandemic hit. With massive silkworm factories, however, we would gain the ability to mass-produce genetically engineered vaccines on the fly. We are still in the early research stages for human vaccine production, but I would like to stress that silkworm factories are one of our best options for creating a system capable of protecting the entire country from an infectious disease outbreak.
As of April 2018, we have already begun to make this vision a reality by creating KAICO, a company founded to commercialize joint research by the School of Agriculture and the School of Engineering. Our core business will focus on three areas: reagents, diagnostic agents, and vaccines. From a developmental standpoint, the possibilities are endless in terms of meeting the needs of modern medicine, but it will still take time to create viable solutions. Nevertheless, I’m confident that our research today will one day inform the production of vaccines needed to protect the nation from new infectious diseases.
Since its founding, Kyushu University has been a leader in silkworm genomics and for decades has managed its own original strain of silkworm and maintained close to 500 other lines of silkworm bioresources through inbreeding. And with cryopreservation technology allowing for on-demand revival of other silkworm strains, it is plain to see that Kyushu University is one of the best environments for silkworm research in Asia.
University research is a slow and steady process, but it's a thrill to experience firsthand the direct connection to the future that only research can provide. At the Research Center for New Industry Creation in the Entomological Sciences at the Faculty of Agriculture, where I serve as director, we are dedicated to developing new insect industries. We work together with the best insect science researchers in the world to integrate resources, share big data, and create a global platform for insect science research.Our research is very rewarding because we get to collaborate outside the university to create processes that will lead to ever greater possibilities.
A lot of my work involves silkworms, but first and foremost, I'm a researcher. And the best thing about being a researcher is being the first person to understand something that the rest of the world has yet to discover. Discovery begins with curiosity, and it can have a real impact on the world. Once you've experienced the joy of making something from nothing, you just can’t stop.
He uses a hypodermic needle to both inject silkworms and extract their genes. It's quite hefty for its size.
A must for research, Prof. Kusakabe's PIPETMAN is a longish precision dropper that he can adjust using a dial on top. He says he's been using the same type for over thirty years.
Prof. Kusakabe uses his cuvette as a tool for electroporation, the process of transferring genes through E. Coli and other viruses using high-voltage electric shocks.
You won't discover anything exciting unless you set out to find something exciting.
You just need to take that first step.
You decide your major based on what you want to do in the future. You can do anything here at the School of Agriculture. There are plenty of choices for research, and a wide variety of careers await our graduates. That's why I think it has great potential for students who are still undecided.
I will say, however, that it takes quite a lot of energy to find what you love. It won't help you find success in work and research if you cling to the comfort of your current way of life. If you don't try hard to find the things that interest you—the things you love—you will never find them. Even if you don't know what excites you, you should try whatever you find interesting, however trivial or obscure it may be. The first step is the hardest, but it's also the beginning of something much bigger.
You have time to explore while you're a student, but the act of exploring is not an end in itself. Your goal should be to find what you want to research and then act upon it.
It all depends on whether pursuing that research is going to be exciting or not. I guarantee that it won't be exciting to do research just because your professors and other people tell you to. Find what you want to do, make a plan, make predictions, and think about what kind of experiments and research might support your hypotheses. That's the real thrill of research. I would like to ask our prospective students to think for themselves and act with purpose each and every day. Be quick to transform your inspiration into perspiration. You will never be sure unless you try.
This interview was conducted in June 2018.
