Kelvin Ka-Wai Tsao, Assistant Professor
Biomolecular Chemistry Laboratory and Global Standard Science Education Division Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo
July 6, 2026
FUTI Travel Award Report
The purpose of this travel was twofold: (1) to participate in the Bioanalytical Sensors Gordon Research Conference in Newport, Rhode Island, and (2) to visit collaborating laboratories at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Harvard University), the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute (New York), and Princeton University. My research centers on the development of genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors, most recently CO2LA, a biosensor for intracellular CO2. Building a tool of this kind is one problem; placing it in the hands of researchers who can use it to answer biological questions is another. The conference offered a concentrated view of the sensing modalities currently being developed for CO2 and of how such sensors are being implemented in practice, while introducing me to chemists and biologists across agriculture, plant biology, and animal biology whose questions might be served by a CO2 biosensor. The laboratory visits were an opportunity to receive direct, hands-on feedback on the current version of CO2LA, to learn new techniques and laboratory practices that could strengthen my own group, and to ask biologists what other tools they need.
Travel Itinerary
June 18: Depart Tokyo (HND) for Boston (BOS)
June 19: Visit to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
June 21–26: Bioanalytical Sensors Gordon Research Conference, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island
June 26: Travel from Newport to New York City
June 29: Visit to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York; travel to Princeton June 30 – July 1: Visit to Princeton University
July 2: Return from Newark (EWR) to Tokyo (NRT)
On June 19, I visited the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where I met Dr. Meaghan Boileau, Dr. Reina Takeda, and Dr. Christian Marinaccio, postdoctoral researchers in the Armstrong Lab. Our discussions centered on where the current generation of imaging tools falls short for cancer biology, and on the chemical biology strategies available for observing molecular events inside living cells. What struck me most was how consistently the conversation returned to the same theme: the biological questions these researchers most want to ask are, in several cases, limited less by biological insight than by the absence of a suitable tool. I was also given a tour of the Institute’s facilities, including a demonstration of how their fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) instruments are used in practice. The most concrete outcome of the day was a working list of targets for which no adequate sensor currently exists, which will help direct the future direction of biosensor development in my group. It emerged precisely from the kind of conversation that does not happen over email.
From June 21 to 26, I participated in the Bioanalytical Sensors Gordon Research Conference at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. The meeting is a leading forum for biosensor development across all modalities, and its strength lies in its constraints: attendance is deliberately limited, all meals are shared, and the schedule is built to maximize sustained discussion rather than passive listening.
Because the meeting is small, the poster sessions are unusually effective, with faculty and students presenting alongside one another. I attended the Biosensors GRC in 2018 as a PhD student, with a poster and an idea; I returned in 2026 as faculty with a working sensor and an active collaboration, and the difference in what the format made possible was striking.
I presented a poster describing our efforts to develop a fluorescent tool for intracellular CO2. The discussions it prompted were substantive, and among the most useful were extended exchanges on the relative merits of genetically encoded sensors and chemosensors, and on the distinct applications for which each is best suited. Those conversations sharpened my thinking about where CO2LA sits in the broader landscape of sensing approaches. I also learned which analytes are currently being targeted at the forefront of the field, where those efforts overlap with my own interests, and which analytes remain unaddressed by any sensing strategy at all. Beyond the science, the format allowed for long conversations with students about their research interests and about the possibility of pursuing research in Japan, and with a scientific consultant, whose perspective gave me new ideas about how my students at the University of Tokyo might contribute to sectors of Japanese scientific research beyond academia.
On June 29, I visited the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, where I met Karl Lin, a PhD candidate in the Heeseon An Lab. Karl previously worked in my own laboratory and is himself a former recipient of the FUTI award, which made the visit a particular pleasure. His current research on protein degradation and the development of chemigenetic tools is closely relevant to my own thinking about a new generation of chemigenetic sensors. We discussed how he applies yeast surface display to evolve his chemigenetic tags, and the practical differences between directed evolution in bacteria and in yeast. He then gave me an in-depth, hands-on tutorial in the use of their FACS instrumentation for selecting tags in yeast cells, a technique I had not previously used and which I expect to adopt in my own engineering efforts. I also saw their molecular biology and organic chemistry laboratory arrangements, which gave me a number of practical ideas for improving the facilities in my own group.
From June 30 to July 1, I visited Princeton University, where I met Dr. Aastha Garde, Prof. Martin Jonikas, and six other postdoctoral researchers and students in the Jonikas Lab. The group is applying CO2LA to study the carbon-concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, with the longer-term aim of engineering more efficient algae as a route to improving crops and increasing CO2 consumption. During the visit we successfully expressed the biosensor and its RFP fusion in Chlamydomonas, and working alongside Dr. Garde I was able to see the experiment performed firsthand and to identify, in direct conversation with the biologist actually using the tool, exactly which pain points are currently constraining their experiments. I also gave a talk to the group on the development of CO2LA. It was received well and generated a great deal of discussion, more than the time available allowed us to explore fully. Observing the differences between their expression system and our own highlighted considerations that we, as protein engineers, need to account for when our sensors move into real biological applications. Their laboratory setup likewise gave me ideas to bring back to the Biomolecular
Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. The clearest outcome is a concrete design brief: I will be developing the next generation of CO2 biosensors around the specific limitations we identified together.
Taken together, this trip produced considerably more than a set of meetings. From Dana-Farber I returned with new classes of analytes worth building sensors for, and with cancer biologists interested in using them. From Memorial Sloan Kettering I gained a directed-evolution technique that I intend to apply to future engineering work. From the Gordon Research Conference I acquired a clear picture of what the field is currently building, where my own work is distinct, and which problems remain open. And from Princeton I came away with the single most valuable thing a tool-builder can receive: an unambiguous account, from the person using the tool, of what needs to be better. I now have both a list of tools to build and a set of biological collaborators already interested in using them, at institutions whose work will help carry these sensors into higher-impact settings. Just as importantly, I met students interested in pursuing research in my field at the University of Tokyo, which will help my laboratory grow.
The part of the trip I did not anticipate was how much of its value lay in simply sitting with biologists and explaining how a biosensor is designed. Those conversations brought us closer together and made a number of researchers noticeably more willing to approach protein engineers and ask for the tools they need. Closing that gap between the people who build tools and the people who use them seems to me imperative to furthering biological research, and it is the work I most want to do. This trip was where that effort began in earnest, and it reflects precisely the FUTI mission of enabling early-career University of Tokyo researchers to build durable international connections, relationships rather than references.
I am deeply grateful to Friends of UTokyo and to their supporters, whose generosity made this trip possible. It has meaningfully shaped the direction of my research and the network of colleagues around it.