Research/Areas of Interest:

I am using a mouse model of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-toxicity to better understand why humans are several orders of magnitude more sensitive to LPS than mice. One possibility is that humans are more sensitive to Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) – the main mediator of LPS-toxicity in mice. It is also possible that such a dramatic difference is conferred by the differences in the cellular makeup in circulation in mice and men. To test these hypotheses, I am using a MOLF strain of the evolutionary diverse wild-derived mice that are highly resistant to LPS despite being hyper-responsive to LPS in vitro. Using the high correlation between LPS lethality and body temperature changes, I am going to identify cytokines that are more highly associated with lethality and search for genetic differences in MOLF strains that are the cause of these changes. A high level of genetic diversity facilitates forward genetic analysis of these traits. 

Education

DDS, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
PhD, Dental Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan