Bio

Dr. Sode is a Distinguished Professor in the UNC/NCSU joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. He also serves as the Adjunct Professor at the Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan. Dr. Sode is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Dr. Koji SODE received a B.S. in chemical engineering, an M.S. in electrochemistry and a Ph.D. in engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech.). During his graduate student period, he engaged as a research fellow at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich ( ETH-Z), Biotechnology Institute. He started his academic appointment as Research Associate (Assistant Prof.) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, followed by the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo. In 1990, he was promoted to an Associated Professor at the Department of Biotechnology and Life Science at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. In 2000, he was promoted to full Professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Life Science. During his career at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, he served as Team leader of the Life Science Research Group at the Institute of Global Research Innovation, Chair of the Department of Industrial Technology and Innovation, the Chair of the Department of Biotechnology and Life Science, Director of Center for the Intellectual Properties and Innovations, and University Research Administration Center. He has been engaged in a variety of research projects with many pronounced international industrial partners, especially in the field of the development of novel biodevices for medical application. He is the author of more than 360 peer-reviewed papers and holds numerous international patents relating to biosensing technologies including 45 US patents. He serves as the Editor for Biosensors and Bioelectronics and as the Congress Committee of The World Congress of Biosensors. 

The strategic research concept of Dr. Sode’s research lab is to discover, design and create novel molecules based on biomolecular engineering to be applied for the development of innovative biosensing technologies dedicated to healthcare management and novel bioprocesses based on synthetic biology approaches. Representative achievements were about the Biomolecular Engineering of enzymes for glucose monitoring for both 2nd generation and 3rd generation electrochemical biosensing systems. Currently, Sode’s lab is focusing on 1. The creation of engineered biosensing molecules (enzymes/binding proteins/antibodies/aptamers, 2. The development of innovative in vivo, real-time, multi-parameter and continuous biosensing systems, 3. Innovative POCT sensing systems for biomarkers, 4. The development of biomedical devices for closed loop therapies. These research topics are all based on the original and unique concept of creating Biomolecules to be dedicated to the creation of Biomedical devices, being beneficial for the improvement of human health and quality of life.

Research Interests

Biomolecular Engineering for Biomedical Engineering
Creation of the innovative biomedical devices including biosensing systems