Suzuki Lab

Introduction

The Suzuki Laboratory was established in January 2021 at The Queen’s Medical Center. The lab is headed by Sayuri Suzuki, Ph.D. and located within the University of Hawaii Tower on the campus of The Queen’s Medical Center.

The Science

Dr. Suzuki’s primary research interest is in nephropathy involving kidney fibrosis. The goal is to identify underlying cellular mechanisms involved in kidney fibrosis, discover a novel drug that helps protect from damage inflicted by inflammatory processes, and identify new diagnostic biomarkers for kidney disease. One of the mechanisms focuses on ion channel physiology, in particular on the TRP channel family, which reaches beyond kidney disease and into cancer biology. In collaboration with Dr. Daniel Romo, Baylor University, she is developing a pharmacophore targeting TRPM7 channels in hypoxic disease. In collaboration with Dr. Williams, she is probing natural products isolated from cyanobacteria as active drugs against TRPM channels.

Suzuki Lab Members

Sayuri Suzuki, PhD

Principal Investigator
Tel: 1 (808) 691-7930
Fax: 1 (808) 691-7939
sasuzuki@queens.org

Collaborators

Phillip Williams, PhD

Professor of Chemistry
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Selected Publications

Spirovetivane- and Eudesmane-Type Sesquiterpenoids isolated from the culture media of two cyanobacterial strains

O’Donnell T.J., Luo Y., Yoshida W.Y., Suzuki S., Sun R., Williams P.G.
Journal of Natural Products (2022).
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ceca.2021.102521 PMID: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35142496

TRPM7 contributes to progressive nephropathy

Suzuki, S., Penner, R., & Fleig, A.
Scientific Reports 10, 2333 (2020).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59355-y PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32047249

The TRPM7 kinase limits receptor-induced calcium release by regulating heterotrimeric G-proteins

Suzuki, S., Lis, A., Schmitz, C., Penner, R., & Fleig, A.
Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS 75(16), 3069–3078 (2018).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-018-2786-z. PMCID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6033657

Scalaradial Is a potent inhibitor of Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 2 (TRPM2) ion channels

Starkus, J. G., Poerzgen, P., Layugan, K., Kawabata, K. G., Goto, J.-I., Suzuki, S., Myers, G., Kelly, M., Penner, R., Fleig, A., & Horgen, F. D.
Journal of Natural Products 80(10), 2741–2750 (2017).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00515. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29019677

The coiled-coil domain of zebrafish TRPM7 regulates Mg·nucleotide sensitivity

Jansen, C., Sahni, J., Suzuki, S., Horgen, F. D., Penner, R., & Fleig, A.
Scientific Reports 6, 33459 (2016).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep33459. PMCID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5024298

TRPM7 kinase activity regulates murine mast cell degranulation

Zierler, S., Sumoza-Toledo, A., Suzuki, S., Dúill, F. Ó., Ryazanova, L. V., Penner, R., Ryazanov, A. G., & Fleig, A.
The Journal of Physiology 594(11), 2957–2970 (2016).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/JP271564. PMCID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4887679

Elucidating the role of the TRPM7 alpha-kinase: TRPM7 kinase inactivation leads to magnesium deprivation resistance phenotype in mice

Ryazanova, L. V., Hu, Z., Suzuki, S., Chubanov, V., Fleig, A., & Ryazanov, A. G.
Scientific Reports 4, 7599 (2014).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep07599. PMCID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4274504