Kinichi Nakashima,
Professor, Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine,
Kyushu University
Kinichi Nakashima, Ph.D. is a Professor in Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Kyushu University in 1995. He did postdoc at Osaka University and Tokyo Medical and Dental University (1995-1997) and became an assistant professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 1998. He then became an associate professor at Kumamoto University in 2000. He moved to the Salk Institute as a research fellow (2002-2004), and become a professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) and obtained the present position in 2013. Dr. Nakashima ’s research focuses on neural cell regulation by cytokines and epigenetic programs, and its therapeutic application to regenerative medicine.
Artificial Production of New Neurons in the Adult Central Nervous System
Tuesday, 12 November 2019 at 15:10
Add to Calendar ▼2019-11-12 15:10:002019-11-12 16:10:00Europe/LondonArtificial Production of New Neurons in the Adult Central Nervous SystemCell and Gene Therapy Asia 2019 in Kobe, JapanKobe, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
The body’s capacity to restore damaged neural networks in the injured central nervous system (CNS) is severely limited. Therefore, usefulness of neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation to replenish neurons has been extensively investigated, but because of gliogenic environment in the lesion site, effective neuronal production has not been satisfactorily successful. We have previously found that anti-epileptic drug valproic acid, also known as a histone deacetylase inhibitor, induced neuronal differentiation of NSCs, and reported that combinatorial treatment with VPA and NSC transplantation can supply newly generated neurons in injured spinal cord, leading to dramatic functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). In the subsequent study, we have also shown that human iPSC-derived NSC, which are epigenetically restricted not to differentiate into glial cells, efficiently give rise to neurons in the injured spinal cord, inducing recovery of locomotor functions of mice after SCI. Although it is now understood that supply of new neurons has beneficial effects on the functional recovery, there still remain critical problems, such as tumorigenicity and time-consuming preparation of cells if we utilize iPSC-derived cells. As an alternative strategy to replenish new neurons in vivo, direct conversion from endogenous cells in non-neuronal lineages attracts much attention these days. We have recently found that microglia, which converge at lesion site after injury, can be converted to functional neurons both in vitro and in vivo by the expression of a single proneural transcription factor NeuroD1 (ND1). We also verified the molecular mechanisms of how ND1 provokes and suppresses neuronal and microglial programs, respectively. In this talk, I would like to introduce these our achievement and discuss future directions regarding treatments of CNS injuries.
Add to Calendar ▼2019-11-11 00:00:002019-11-12 00:00:00Europe/LondonCell and Gene Therapy Asia 2019Cell and Gene Therapy Asia 2019 in Kobe, JapanKobe, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2019-11-12 15:10:002019-11-12 16:10:00Europe/LondonArtificial Production of New Neurons in the Adult Central Nervous SystemCell and Gene Therapy Asia 2019 in Kobe, JapanKobe, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
