Tokyo Women's Medical University

Graduate School of Medical Science

Microbiology and Immunology

About us

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology covers a range of fields in research and in teaching, from immunology, which studies how the immune system of the body protects itself from infectious diseases, to microbiology, which focuses on microbial structure, genetics and metabolism. Our basic research is undertaken in close collaboration with the university hospital physicians, for the aim to understand how host immune response endeavors to overcome microbial infection, and how pathobionts elicit pathogenesis to inflammation, autoimmunity, and allergy.

Research

(1) Antigen-induced immune responses of T cells and B cells: Mechanisms underlying differentiation and maturation of lymphocytes in response to allo-, auto- and super-antigens will be studied by using experimental mice.
(2) T cell maturation and aging: Investigation into T cell responses from newborns to the elderly in humans will provide insights into how to combat age-related immune-antigen interactions, in infection, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
(3) Immune cells in inflammatory diseases: Kinetics of innate and acquired immune cells will be analyzed in correlation with gut microbiota, in autoimmune diseases, allergy and metabolic syndrome. Pathogenic factors contributing to host responses will be characterized in the aim to seek its underlying pathogenesis for primary inflammatory diseases.
(4) Infection-induced shock: Exotoxins of staphylococci and streptococci will be utilized in systemic shock induction. Innate, acquired and humoral immune responses, as well as shock-inhibitors, will be analyzed in mice to clarify the mechanism by which exotoxins elicit pathogenesis in the infected host.
(5) Molecular and biochemical analysis of de novo superantigens: Structural and functional analysis will be elucidated on the superantigens detected and purified from shock patients.

Faculty

Professor, Cheif Lecturer    Naoko Yanagisawa
Lecuturer                             Toshifumi Osaka
Associate Lecturer              Hideto Kato
Assistant Professor             Shigeru Ashino
Assistant professor             Hidehiro Ueshiba

Related links

Research Achievements Database

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