Short Bio
Professional Experience:
1987-1993 Resident, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
1993-1994 Fellow, Spine and Spinal Cord Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine
1998-2000 Research fellow, Georgetown University, Department of Neuroscience Washington, D. C., United States
2004-2011 Assistant professor, Chief of Spinal cord division, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine
2012-2014 Associate professor, Chief of Spinal cord division, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine
2015-present Professor & Chair, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine
2017-present Vice Dean, Keio University School of Medicine
Awards:
2004 & 2005 Cervical Spine Research Society, Basic science research award
2006 Japan Orthopaedic Association Award
2014 Japanese Society for regenerative medicine award
2014 Erwin von Bälz prize
2014 Journal of Orthopaedic Science, Best paper award 2013
2015 Journal of Orthopaedic Science, Best paper award 2014
Skills & Activities:
Spinal Cord Injury, Spinal Cord Tumor,
Basic research for regenerative medicine, stem cell biology
Scientific Memberships:
International Spinal Cord Society, Scientific Committee, member
Science Council of Japan (SCJ), Cooperative member
Japanese Society for regenerative medicine, Board member, Delegate
Japanese Orthopaedic Association, Delegate, Transplantation and regeneration committee (Advisor)
Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research, Board member
International committee (Chair)
Japanese Medical Society of Spinal Cord Lesion, Board member, Committee of Regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury (Chair)
Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Spinal cord injuries (SCI) result in devastating loss of function, because spinal cord of human beings never regenerates after injury. People believed in this dogma for a long time. There is an emerging hope for regeneration-based therapy of the damaged spinal cord due to the progress of neuroscience and regenerative medicine including stem cell biology. Stimulated by the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded for Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon, there is an increasing interest in the iPS cells (iPSCs) and reprogramming technologies in medical science. While iPS cells are expected to open new era providing enormous opportunities in the biomedical sciences in terms of cell therapies for regenerative medicine, safety-related concerns for iPS cell-based cell therapy should be resolved prior to the clinical application of iPSCs. Especially, some previous reports indicated risk factors for the use of iPSCs, such as genetic and epigenetic abnormalities that could take place during reprogramming or maintenance in subsequent cell culture. Of particular relevance is the potential tumorigenicity and immunogenicity associated with iPSC-based cell therapy. In this symposium, I would like to summarize previous efforts in the field as well as the current status of iPSC-based cell therapy for repair of the damaged central nervous system, with a special emphasis on SCI. Furthermore, I would like to explain our upcoming clinical trial of iPSC-derived neural stem cell transplantation for sub-acute SCI patients.