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École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Nako Nakatsuka
Nako Nakatsuka, Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich’s Biosensors and Bioelectronics Lab
Born
Osaka
AwardsMIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of California (UCLA)
Academic work
DisciplineChemistry and Engineering
InstitutionsETH Zurich
Main interestsNanoscale electronic biosensors based on DNA receptors (aptamers)
Websitehttps://lbb.ethz.ch/the-group/principal-investigator/nakatsuka-nako.html

Nako Nakatsuka

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Nako Nakatsuka is a Japanese chemist currently working at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics at ETH Zürich.[1] She is a senior scientist and leads a research team focused on interfacing DNA-based receptors (aptamers) with nanoscale electronic biosensors. In 2021, Nako Nakatsuka was nominated to the MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list.[2]

Career

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Nako Nakatsuka was raised in Tokyo and moved to New York to pursue her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the Fordham University (Bronx, NY).[1][3] During her bachelor, she joined the bionanotechnology research lab of Professor Ipsita A. Banerjee in the Department of Chemistry at Fordham, where she performed research in tissue engineering.[4] [5] She pursued her Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. [6][1] She was supervised by Professors Anne M. Andrews and Paul S. Weiss. Her thesis focused on the development of aptamer-based electronic biosensors to investigate neurochemistry.[7] Aside from her research, Nako Nakatsuka was also a member of the UCLA Triathlon Team.[1]  In 2018, Nako Nakatsuka was awarded the prestigious ETH postdoctoral fellowship and joined the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics.[8] Currently, she is a senior scientist in the same group and aims to deepen the understanding of the brain by using nanoscale biosensors.

In addition to her scientific pursuits, Nako Nakatsuka is deeply committed to social justice, outreach, and education.[9] As a member of the Diversity Team at ETH's Association of Scientific Staff (AVETH) and within her department (D-ITET), she has participated in efforts to promote awareness and better understanding of these issues in Switzerland.[10] Nako Nakatsuka has also been featured in a BuzzFeed video produced by Pfizer called "Kids Teach Science," in addition to illustrating a children's chemistry book: "A is for Atom: ABCs for Aspiring Chemists".[11]

Research

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Nakatsuka’s research focusses on understanding neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson, by recording chemical flux in the brain.[1] Her study of chemical signaling in the brain is complementary to research on the electrical pathways between synapses and enables to deepen our knowledges on how the brain works.

The research of Nako Nakatsuka is at the junction of chemistry, engineering, and neuroscience. To measure chemical flux, she is interfacing neurotransmitter-​specific DNA-aptamers with electrical sensors.[12] The particularity of the developed biosensors is their high selectivity, i.e., their ability to differentiate between chemicals with similar structure.[13] This characteristic is primordial in neuroscience because of the similarities between the chemical structure of neurotransmitters and their precursors or metabolites.

Nako Nakatsuka is working in several type of biosensors such as field-​effect transistors[14] or aptamer-​modified nanopipettes[15]. The latter invention earned her a prestigious position on the 2021 MIT Technology Review’s list of “35 Innovators Under 35”.[2] The aptamer-​modified nanopipettes consists of a glass pipette with a 10-nanometer tip and two electrodes.[15] By functionalizing the pipetting with DNA-aptamers, Scientifics were able to measure neurochemicals flux as they pass through the aperture of the pipette.

Aside from the development of the sensors, Nako Nakatsuka aims also to understand better the working mechanism of aptamers by studying their conformational dynamics and kinetics, and their conformal change upon target-binding.[16]

Awards and honors

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  • 2021: MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35[2]
  • 2021: European Biosensors Symposium Best Oral Presentation[1]
  • 2019: Open Innovation in Life Sciences Conference Science Pitch 1st Place[1]
  • 2018: Norma Stoddart Prize for Academic Excellence and Outstanding Citizenship[17]
  • 2018: ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship[8]

Selected works

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  • Nakatsuka, Nako (2022-09-27), "Aptamer–Field-Effect Transistors for Small-Molecule Sensing in Complex Environments", Methods in Molecular Biology, New York, NY: Springer US, pp. 187–196. [14]
  • Weaver, Sean; Mohammadi, Melika Haji; Nakatsuka, Nako (2023-03-15). "Aptamer-functionalized capacitive biosensors". Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 224: 115014. [18]
  • Schlotter, Til; Kloter, Tom; Nakatsuka, Nako; Aramesh, Morteza; Voros, Janos; Zambelli, Tomaso (2022-02-11). "Interface nanopores as a flexible technology for next-generation single-molecule protein sensing". Biophysical Journal. 121 (3): 541a. [19]
  • Frutiger, Andreas; Tanno, Alexander; Hwu, Stephanie; Tiefenauer, Raphael F.; Vörös, János; Nakatsuka, Nako (2021-07-14). "Nonspecific Binding—Fundamental Concepts and Consequences for Biosensing Applications". Chemical Reviews. 121 (13): 8095–8160. [20]
  • Nakatsuka, Nako; Faillétaz, Alix; Eggemann, Dominic; Forró, Csaba; Vörös, János; Momotenko, Dmitry (2021-03-02). "Aptamer Conformational Change Enables Serotonin Biosensing with Nanopipettes". Analytical Chemistry. 93 (8): 4033–4041. [15]
  • Nakatsuka, Nako; Yang, Kyung-Ae; Abendroth, John M.; Cheung, Kevin M.; Xu, Xiaobin; Yang, Hongyan; Zhao, Chuanzhen; Zhu, Bowen; Rim, You Seung; Yang, Yang; Weiss, Paul S.; Stojanović, Milan N.; Andrews, Anne M. (2018-10-19). "Aptamer–field-effect transistors overcome Debye length limitations for small-molecule sensing". Science. 362 (6412): 319–324.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Dr. Nako Nakatsuka". lbb.ethz.ch. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  2. ^ a b c "Nako Nakatsuka". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  3. ^ "International Women's Day; In conversation with Dr. Nako Nakatsuka". AZoSensors.com. 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  4. ^ "Sensing the brain's chemical signals". www.myscience.org. 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  5. ^ "Thinking Small: A New Tool for Decoding the Brain's Chemical Signals". Fordham Newsroom. 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  6. ^ "Alumna in the News". 2021-10-21.
  7. ^ "Aptamer-Functionalized Field-Effect Transistors For Serotonin and Dopamine Sensing". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  8. ^ a b "List of ETH Fellows". ethz.ch. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  9. ^ "International Women's Day; In conversation with Dr. Nako Nakatsuka". AZoSensors.com. 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  10. ^ "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Seminars: What They Do and Do Not Do". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  11. ^ "A is for Atom: ABCs for Aspiring Chemists – Pawling Press". Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  12. ^ Moraldo, Charlotte; Vuille-dit-Bille, Emilie; Shkodra, Bajramshahe; Kloter, Tom; Nakatsuka, Nako (2022-01-01). "Aptamer-modified biosensors to visualize neurotransmitter flux". Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 365: 109386. doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109386. ISSN 0165-0270.
  13. ^ a b Nakatsuka, Nako; Yang, Kyung-Ae; Abendroth, John M.; Cheung, Kevin M.; Xu, Xiaobin; Yang, Hongyan; Zhao, Chuanzhen; Zhu, Bowen; Rim, You Seung; Yang, Yang; Weiss, Paul S.; Stojanović, Milan N.; Andrews, Anne M. (2018-10-19). "Aptamer–field-effect transistors overcome Debye length limitations for small-molecule sensing". Science. 362 (6412): 319–324. doi:10.1126/science.aao6750. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 6663484. PMID 30190311.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  14. ^ a b Nakatsuka, Nako (2022-09-27), "Aptamer–Field-Effect Transistors for Small-Molecule Sensing in Complex Environments", Methods in Molecular Biology, New York, NY: Springer US, pp. 187–196, ISBN 978-1-0716-2694-8, retrieved 2023-01-08
  15. ^ a b c Nakatsuka, Nako; Faillétaz, Alix; Eggemann, Dominic; Forró, Csaba; Vörös, János; Momotenko, Dmitry (2021-03-02). "Aptamer Conformational Change Enables Serotonin Biosensing with Nanopipettes". Analytical Chemistry. 93 (8): 4033–4041. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.0c05038. ISSN 0003-2700.
  16. ^ Nakatsuka, Nako; Abendroth, John M.; Yang, Kyung-Ae; Andrews, Anne M. (2021-03-03). "Divalent Cation Dependence Enhances Dopamine Aptamer Biosensing". ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 13 (8): 9425–9435. doi:10.1021/acsami.0c17535. ISSN 1944-8244. PMC 7933093. PMID 33410656.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  17. ^ "Norma Stoddart Prize". 2022-02-12.
  18. ^ Weaver, Sean; Mohammadi, Melika Haji; Nakatsuka, Nako (2023-03-15). "Aptamer-functionalized capacitive biosensors". Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 224: 115014. doi:10.1016/j.bios.2022.115014. ISSN 0956-5663.
  19. ^ Schlotter, Til; Kloter, Tom; Nakatsuka, Nako; Aramesh, Morteza; Voros, Janos; Zambelli, Tomaso (2022-02-11). "Interface nanopores as a flexible technology for next-generation single-molecule protein sensing". Biophysical Journal. 121 (3): 541a. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2021.11.2849. ISSN 0006-3495.
  20. ^ Frutiger, Andreas; Tanno, Alexander; Hwu, Stephanie; Tiefenauer, Raphael F.; Vörös, János; Nakatsuka, Nako (2021-07-14). "Nonspecific Binding—Fundamental Concepts and Consequences for Biosensing Applications". Chemical Reviews. 121 (13): 8095–8160. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00044. ISSN 0009-2665.
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Articles on Nako Nakatsuka research and career:

Webinars:

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