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Saki Ichikawa, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Molecular Medicine

Saki Ichikawa's Lab

C3-179 Veterinary Medical Center
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Ithaca, NY 14853

Office: 607-253-3654
Email: saki.ichikawa@cornell.edu

Profile

Research/Clinical Interests

Cells maintain health by constantly sensing their internal state and responding to various challenges. A vast array of chemical modifications on proteins drives this vital information processing in cells. Our lab integrates chemical biology, organic chemistry, and proteomics to characterize these critical signals and understand how they orchestrate cellular processes. Our research pursues three synergistic objectives. First, we develop molecular probes to illuminate the biological roles of understudied protein modifications. Second, we aim to establish how E3 ligases function as primary sensors of cellular well-being, targeting proteins for degradation. Third, we investigate how cells mount tailored survival programs in response to different stresses. Together, these research efforts will reveal new layers of biological control and offer new points of intervention for diseases driven by the dysregulation of these pathways.

Education

  • Ph.D., Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019
  • B.S., Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, 2014

Biography/Professional Experience

  • 2024 – present, Assistant Professor, Cornell University
  • 2023 – 2024, Senior Research Associate, Cornell University
  • 2019 – 2023, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

Awards and Honors

  • 2023, Marie Sklodowska Curie Award (Grand Prize), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland
  • 2021 – 2022, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Overseas Research Fellowship, JSPS
  • 2019, CSJ Student Presentation Award, 99th Annual Meeting of The Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ)
  • 2019, The Graduate Student Council Travel Grant, MIT
  • 2019, The Women in Chemistry Professional Development Grant, MIT
  • 2014 – 2019, Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) Fellowship, JASSO

Professional/Academic Affiliations

  • American Chemical Society
  • The Chemical Society of Japan

Publications

Selected Publications

1.  The contribution of cyclic imide stereoisomers on cereblon-dependent activity
Amako, Y.†, Ichikawa, S.​†, Lloyd, H. C., Payne, N. C., Lin, Z., Boghossian, A. S., Rees, M. G., Ronan, M. M., Roth, J. A., Zhu, Q., Budnik, B., Mazitschek, R., Woo, C. M. 
Chem Sci, 16, 11519–11529 (2025). (†equal contribution)​​

2. The cyclimids: Degron-inspired cereblon binders for targeted protein degradation 
Ichikawa, S.​†, Payne, N. C.†, Xu, W., Chang, C.-F., Vallavoju, N., Frome, S., Flaxman, H. A., Mazitschek, R., Woo, C. M. 
Cell Chem Biol, 31, 1162–1175 (2024). (†equal contribution)

​3.  The E3 ligase adapter cereblon targets the C-terminal cyclic imide degron 
Ichikawa, S.†, Flaxman, H. A.†, Xu, W.†, Vallavoju, N., Lloyd, H. C., Wang, B., Shen, D., Pratt, M. R., Woo, C. M. 
Nature 610, 775–782 (2022). (†equal contribution)

4.   A Modified System for the Synthesis of Enantioenriched N-Arylamines through Copper-Catalyzed Hydroamination 
Ichikawa, S., Zhu, S., Buchwald, S. L. ​
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 57, 8714–8718 (2018).

Link to all publications

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