Keisuke Kaji

Biography

Background

  • 2016- Professor of Biology of Reprogramming
  • 2016- MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellow
  • 2008- Group Leader, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh 
  • 2003-2007 Postdoctral fellow in Dr. Brian Hendrich group at Institute for Stem Cell Research, The University of Edinburgh 
  • 2003 PhD Department of Biological Information, Tokyo Institute of Technology 
  • 2000 MSc Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology 
  • 1998 BSc Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Research summary

Biology of reprogramming

The Kaji group aims to understand the mechanisms of cellular reprogramming, how cellular identify can be faithfully controlled by exogenous gene expression manipulation, in order to improve the technology and to generate useful cell types for medicine.

Aims and areas of interest

Recently a technology to generate pluripotent stem cells from differentiated somatic cells has been developed using defined transcription factors. Similarly, different cellular identity conversions from one type to the other have also been achieved by exogenous expression of master transcription factors. However, the biological mechanism underlying the process of reprogramming has not been elucidated well, and the resulting cell types are often not fully functional. Our group aims to understand the mechanism of the reprogramming, improve the technology and generate fully functional cell types for medicine.

  • Abdenour Soufi

  • Donal O'Carroll

  • Tilo Kunath

  • Stuart Forbes

  • David Hay

  • Jesus Gil, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, UK
  • Kosuke Yusa, Kyoto University, Japan

  • Douglas Strathdee, Beatson Institute, UK

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