Hello, I am Rikiya Watanabe, a father of two children and a researcher in biology and engineering for almost 20 years, following my curiosity. Every day I make different discoveries and encounters and realise how wonderful this world is. In the future, I would like to continue the journey of life with my family and friends and do my best to contribute to a better society through science and technology.

Let's enjoy science and engineering for a better society!

1981  Born in Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan

Education
2004  B.S. Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University
2006  M.S. Department of Mechanical Engineering , Graduate school of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
2009  Ph.D. Division of Advanced Science and Biotechnology, Graduate school of Engineering, Osaka University

Research Experiences
2009  Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University
2011  Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Chemistry, The University of Tokyo
2013  PRESTO Researcher (Concurrently), Japan Science and Technology Agency
2016  Lecturer, Department of Applied Chemistry, The University of Tokyo
2018  Chief Scientist, Molecular Physiology Lab, RIKEN
2020  Visiting Professor (Concurrently), Institute for Molecular Science, Japan
2022  Visiting Professor (Concurrently), Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan
2024  Visiting Professor (Concurrently), Saitama University, Japan

2024

Iida, T., Ando, J., Yoshimura, M., Makino, A., Nakano, M., Kogo, Y., Shinoda, H., Toyoda, M., Noda, T., & *Watanabe, R.
“Portable wide-field femtoliter-chamber imaging system for point-of-care digital bioanalysis”
iScience (2024) 110868

*Ando, J., Murai, K., Mori, M., Michiyuki, T., Iida, T., Makino, A., Shinoda, H., & *Watanabe, R.
“Exploring fluoropolymers for fabrication of femtoliter chamber arrays used in digital bioanalysis”
Sci Rep (2024) 14, 11442

Sakamoto, S., Hiraide, H., Minoda, M., Iwakura, N., Suzuki, M., Ando, J., Takahashi, C., Takahashi, I., Murai, K., Kagami, Y., Mizuno, T., Koike, T., Nara, S., Morizane, C., Hijioka, S., Kashiro, A., Honda, K., Watanabe, R., *Urano, Y & *Komatsu, T.
“Identification of activity-based biomarkers for early-stage pancreatic tumors in blood using single-molecule enzyme activity screening”
Cell Rep Methods (2024) 100688




2023

Ukegawa, T., *Komatsu, T., Minoda, M., Matsumoto, T., Iwasaka, T., Mizuno, T., Tachibana, R., Sakamoto, S., Hanaoka, K., Kusuhara, H., Honda, K., Watanabe, R., & *Urano, Y.
“Thioester-Based Coupled Fluorogenic Assays in Microdevice for the Detection of Single-Molecule Enzyme Activities of Esterases with Specified Substrate Recognition”
Adv Sci (2023) e2306559

Ando, J., & *Watanabe, R.
“Toward versatile digital bioanalysis”
Biomicrofluidics (2023) 17, 061303

Iida, T., Shinoda, H., & *Watanabe, R.
“SATORI: Amplification-free digital RNA detection method for the diagnosis of viral infections”
Biophys Physicobiol (2023) e200031

Ueda, T., *Shinoda, H., Makino, A., Yoshimura, M., Iida, T., & *Watanabe, R.
“Purification/Amplification-Free RNA Detection Platform for Rapid and Multiplex Diagnosis of Plant Viral Infections”
Anal Chem (2023) 95, 9680-9686

Kastian, RF., Baba, K., Kaewkascholkul, N., Sasaki, H., Watanabe, R., Toriyama, M., & *Inagaki, N.
“Dephosphorylation of neural wiring protein shootin1 by PP1 phosphatase regulates netrin-1-induced axon guidance”
J Biol Chem (2023) 299, 1046687

Nagano, N., Ichihashi, Y., Komatsu, T., Matsuzaki, H., Hata, K., Watanabe, T., Misawa, Y., Suzuki, M., Sakamoto, S., Kagami, Y., Kashiro, A., Takeuchi, K., Kanemitsu, Y., Ochiai, H., Watanabe, R., Honda, K., & *Urano, Y.
“Development of fluorogenic substrates for colorectal tumor-related neuropeptidases for activity-based diagnosis”
Chem Sci (2023) 14, 4495-4499

Iida, T., Ando, J., Shinoda, H., Makino, A., Yoshimura, M., Murai, K., Mori, M., Takaeuchi, H., Noda, T., Nishimasu, H., & *Watanabe, R.
“Compact wide-field femtoliter-chamber imaging system for high-speed and accurate digital bioanalysis”
Lab Chip (2023) 23, 684-691




2022

Shinoda, H., Iida, T., Makino, A., Yoshimura, M., Ishikawa, J., Ando, J., Murai, K., Sugiyama, K., Muramoto, Y., Nakano, M., Kiga, K., Cui, L., Nureki, O., Takaeuchi, H., Noda, T., *Nishimasu, H., & *Watanabe, R.
“Automated amplification-free digital RNA detection platform for rapid and sensitive SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis”
Commun Biol (2022) 5, 473




2021

Shinoda, H., Taguchi, Y., Nakagawa, R., Makino, A., Okazaki, S., Nakano, M., Muramoto, Y., Takahashi, C., Takahashi, I., Ando, J., Noda, T., *Nureki, O., *Nishimasu, H., & *Watanabe, R.
“Amplification-free RNA detection with CRISPR-Cas13”
Commun Biol (2021) 4, 476




2020

Soga, N., Ota, A., Nakajima, K., Watanabe, R., Ueno, H., & *Noji, H.
“Monodisperse Liposomes with Femtoliter Volume Enable Quantitative Digital Bioassays of Membrane Transporters and Cell-Free Gene Expression”
ACS Nano (2020) 14, 11700-11711

Sakamoto, S., *Komatsu, T., *Watanabe, R., Zhang, Y., Inoue, T., Kawaguchi, M., Nakagawa, H., Ueno, T., Okusaka, T., Honda, K., *Noji, H., & *Urano, Y.
“Multiplexed single-molecule enzyme activity analysis for counting disease-related proteins inbiological samples”
Sci Adv (2020) 6, eaay0888




2018

*Watanabe, R., Komatsu, T., Sakamoto, S., Urano, Y., & *Noji, H.
“High-throughput single-molecule bioassay using micro-reactor arrays with a concentration gradient of target molecules”
Lab Chip (2018) 18, 2849-2853

Baba, K., Yoshida, W., Toriyama, M., Shimada, T., Manning, C., Saito, M., Kohno, K., Trimmer, J., Watanabe, R., & *Inagaki, N.
“Gradient-reading and mechano-effector machinery for netrin-1–induced axon guidance”
eLife (2018) 7, e34593

Moriizumi, Y., *Tabata, KV, Watanabe, R., Doura, T., Kamiya, M., Urano, Y., & *Noji, H.
“Hybrid cell reactor system from Escherichia coli protoplast cells and arrayed lipid bilayer chamber device”
Sci Rep (2018) 8, 11757

*Watanabe, R., Sakuragi, T., *Noji, H., & *Nagata, S.
“Single molecule analysis of phospholipid scrambling by TMEM16F”
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2018b) 115, 3066-3071

Abe, K., Katsuno, H., Toriyama, M., Baba, K., Mori, T., Hakoshima, T., Kanemura, Y., Watanabe, R., & *Inagaki, N.
“Grip and slip of L1-CAM on adhesive substrates direct growth cone haptotaxis”
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2018a) 115, 2764-2769

*Watanabe, R., Soga, N., Ohdate, S., & *Noji, H.
“Single molecule analysis of membrane transporter activity by using a microsystem”
Methods Mol Biol (2018) 1700, 321-330

*Watanabe, R., Genda, M., Kato-Yamada, Y., & *Noji, H.
“Essential role of the epsilon subunit for reversible chemo-mechanical coupling in F1-ATPase”
Biophys J (2018) 114, 178-187

Tamiya, Y., Watanabe, R., Noji, H., *Li, C., & *Komatsuzaki, T.
“Effects of non-equilibrium angle fluctuation on F1-ATPase kinetics induced by temperature increase”
Phys Chem Chem Phys (2018) 20, 1872-1880




2016

*Watanabe, R., Soga, N., Hara, M., & *Noji, H.
“Arrayed water-in-oil droplet bilayers for membrane transport analysis”
Lab Chip (2016) 16, 3043-3048

*Watanabe, R., Soga, N., & *Noji, H.
“Novel nano-device to measure voltage-driven membrane transporter activity”
IEEE Trans Nanotechnol (2016) 15, 70-73

*McMiillan, D. G., Watanabe, R., Ueno, H., Cook, G. M., & *Noji, H.
“Biophysical Characterization of a Thermoalkaliphilic Molecular Motor with a High Stepping-Torque Gives Insight into Evolutionary ATP Synthase Adaptation”
J Biol Chem (2016) 291, 23965-23977




2015

Li, C. B., Ueno, H., Watanabe, R., Noji, H., & *Komatsuzaki, T.
“ATP hydrolysis assists Phosphate release and promotes reaction ordering in F1-ATPase”
Nat Commun (2015) 6, 10223

Soga, N., *Watanabe, R., & *Noji, H.
“Attolitre-sized lipid bilayer chamber array for rapid detection of single transporters”
Sci Rep (2015) 5, 11025

Watanabe, R., Koyasu, K., You, H., Tanigawara, M., & *Noji, H.
“Torque transmission mechanism via DELSEED loop of F1-ATPase”
Biophys J (2015) 108, 1144-52

Yukawa, A., *Watanabe, R., & *Noji, H.
“Effects of an ATP analogue, adenosine 5'-[α-thio]triphosphate, on F1-ATPase rotary catalysis, torque generation, and inhibited intermediated formation”
Biochem Biophys Res Commun (2015) 458, 515-9

Yukawa, A., Iino, R., Watanabe, R., Hayashi, H., & *Noji, H.
“Key Chemical Factors of Arginine Finger Catalysis of F1-ATPase Clarified by an Unnatural Amino Acid Mutation”
Biochemistry (2015) 54, 472-80




2014

*Watanabe, R., Soga, N., Yamanaka, T., & *Noji, H.
“High-throughput formation of lipid bilayer membrane arrays with an asymmetric lipid composition”
Sci Rep (2014) 4, 7076

Watanabe, R., Minagawa, Y., & *Noji, H.
“Thermodynamic analysis of F1-ATPase rotary catalysis using high-speed imaging”
Protein Sci (2014) 23, 1773-1779

*Watanabe, R., Soga, N., Fujita, D., Tabata, K. V., Yamauchi, L., Kim, SH., Asanuma, D., Kamiya, M., Urano, Y., *Suga, H., & *Noji, H.
“Arrayed lipid bilayer chambers allow single-molecule analysis of membrane transporter activity”
Nat Commun (2014b) 5, 4519

Watanabe, R., Matsukage, Y., Yukawa, A., Tabata, K. V., & *Noji, H.
“Robustness of the Rotary Catalysis Mechanism of F1-ATPase”
J Biol Chem (2014) 289, 19331-19340

Arai, HC., Yukawa, A., Iwatate, RJ., Kamiya, M., Watanabe, R., Urano, Y., & *Noji, H.
“Torque generation mechanism of F1-ATPase upon NTP binding”
Biophys J (2014) 107, 156-64

Watanabe, R., & *Noji, H.
“Characterization of the temperature-sensitive reaction of F1-ATPase by using single-molecule manipulation”
Sci Rep (2014) 4, 4962

Watanabe, R., & *Noji, H.
“Timing of inorganic phosphate release modulates the catalytic activity of ATP-driven rotary motor protein”
Nat Commun (2014a) 5, 3486




2013

Watanabe, R., Hayashi, K., Ueno, H., & *Noji, H.
“Catalysis-enhancement via rotary fluctuation of F1-ATPase”
Biophys J (2013) 105, 2385-91

Watanabe, R., Tabata, KV., Iino, R., Ueno, H., Iwamoto, M., Oiki, S., & *Noji, H.
“Biased Brownian stepping rotation of FoF1-ATP synthase driven by proton motive force”
Nat Commun (2013) 4, 1631




2012

Tanigawara, M., Tabata, KV., Ito, Y., Ito, J., Watanabe, R., Ueno, H., Ikeguchi, M., & *Noji, H.
“Role of the DELSEED Loop in Torque Transmission of F1-ATPase”
Biophys J (2012) 103, 970-8

You, H., Iino, R., Watanabe, R., & *Noji, H.
“Winding single-molecule double-stranded DNA on a nanometer-sized reel”
Nucleic Acids Res (2012) 40, e151

Watanabe, R., Okuno, D. Sakakihara, S. Shimabukuro, K. Iino, R. Yoshida, M. & *Noji, H.
“Mechanical modulation of catalytic power on F1-ATPase”
Nat Chem Biol (2012) 1, 86-92




2010

Watanabe, R., Iino, R. & *Noji, H.
“Phosphate release in F1-ATPase catalytic cycle follows ADP release.”
Nat Chem Biol (2010) 6, 814-20




2009

Enoki, S., Watanabe, R., Iino, R. & *Noji, H.
“Single-molecule study on the temperature-sensitive reaction of F1-ATPase with a hybrid F1 carrying a single beta(E190D).”
J Biol Chem (2009) 284, 23169-76




2008

Watanabe, R., Iino, R., Shimabukuro, K., Yoshida, M. & *Noji, H.
“Temperature-sensitive reaction intermediate of F1-ATPase.”
EMBO Rep (2008) 9, 84-90