Papers
9
Total Citations
329
H-Index
6
About
Masaki Yamamoto is a structural biologist and synchrotron facility engineer whose career has been defined by pioneering the automation and high-throughput infrastructure of protein crystallography at SPring-8, Japan's premier synchrotron radiation facility. His most influential work centers on developing the RIKEN Structural Genomics Beamlines (BL26B1 and BL26B2), where he led efforts to transform protein structure determination from a labor-intensive endeavor into a streamlined, automated pipeline. His 2006 paper on high-throughput crystallography with automated beamline operation has garnered 98 citations, reflecting the field's broad adoption of his methods. Yamamoto's development of the Beamline Scheduling Software (BSS) and sophisticated sample management systems for handling vast numbers of frozen crystals fundamentally reshaped how structural genomics projects operate at scale. His 2008 introduction of mail-in data collection — allowing researchers worldwide to submit crystals and receive diffraction data without visiting the facility — democratized access to synchrotron resources. More recently, his work on in situ crystal screening and ligand discovery systems demonstrates a continued commitment to expanding crystallographic capabilities. Collectively, his contributions have accelerated structural biology research globally, making protein structure determination faster, more accessible, and more reproducible.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3Sample management system for a vast amount of frozen crystals at SPring-866 citations · 2004
- 4Mail-in data collection at SPring-8 protein crystallography beamlines48 citations · 2008
- 5
- 6
- 7RIKEN structural genomics beamlines at SPring-86 citations · 2002
- 8
- 9SPring-8 Structural Biology Beamline2 citations · 2010