Treat diseases by regulating cell functions in the body
The mission of this lab is to develop innovative medical technologies based on the science of biomaterials, DDS, and molecular biology. We aim at regulating biofunctions of host cells and the biomaterials, obtaining proof-of-concept of the therapeutic strategies by animal studies, and pursuing their clinical applications in collaboration with hospitals and companies.
What's new
- 2022.2.5
A new paper was published in Materials Today Bio.
"Raman spectroscopic insight into osteoarthritic cartilage regeneration by mRNA therapeutics encoding cartilage-anabolic transcription factor Runx1."
Mater Today Bio 13: 100210, 2022
Pezzotti G, Terai Y, Itaka K, et al.
- 2022.1.28
Ms. Kendall FREE (Master 2nd) got an IBB BioFuture Research Encouragement Prize.
Title: mRNA Encoding Split Cytotoxic Proteins for Selective Cell Elimination Based on Specific Protein Detection.
- 2022.1.28
Dr. Nakanishi received the IBB BioFuture Research Encouragement Prize.
Title: Endogenous signal-responsive translational regulation system for mRNA medicine.
- 2022.1.25
Presentation by Dr. Yuta Fukushima at 8th Joint Symposium between IBB/TMDU and Chulalongkorn University on "Biomedical Materials and Engineering" (Online Meeting)
"mRNA therapeutics for central nervous system disorders."
Yuta Fukushima, Hideyuki Nakanishi, Keiji Itaka.
- 2021.10.27
A new paper was published in Pharmaceutics.
"Efficient Messenger RNA Delivery to the Kidney Using Renal Pelvis Injection in Mice."
Pharmaceutics 13(11): 1810, 2021
Oyama N, Kawaguchi M, Itaka K, Kawakami S.
- 2021.6.28
Dr. Fukushima received the Encouragement Prize (DDS) of Nucleic Acids Therapeutics Society of Japan.
Title: mRNA therapeutics for the central nervous systems: Treatment of ischemic stroke and spinal cord injury
- 2021.5.20
A new paper by Dr. Hideyuki Nakanishi was published in Cell Chemical Biology.
"Light-controllable RNA-protein devices for translational regulation of synthetic mRNAs in mammalian cells."
Cell Chemical Biology 28(5): pp662-674.e5, 2021
Nakanishi H, Yoshii T, Kawasaki S, Hayashi K, Tsutsui K, Oki C, Tsukiji S, Saito H.
- 2021.2.27
Prof. Keiji Itaka was interviewed as part of a NHK WORLD-JAPAN program.
"mRNA: Medical Messenger of Hope"
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2089009/
- 2021.2.1
Our research on treatment of ischemic neuronal death by mRNA therapeutics was reviewed in The Yomiuri.
- 2021.1.29
Mr. Kosuke NAKAJIMA (Master 2nd) got an IBB BioFuture Research Encouragement Prize.
Title: Creation and analysis of mRNA libraries with controlled poly(A) chain length.
- 2021.1.29
Our research on treatment of ischemic neuronal death by mRNA therapeutics was reviewed in The Nikkei.
- 2021.1.28
Our research on treatment of ischemic neuronal death by mRNA therapeutics was reviewed in The NHK NEWS WEB.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210128/k10012838151000.html
- 2021.1.21
A new paper by Dr. Yuta Fukushima was published in Biomaterials.
"Treatment of ischemic neuronal death by introducing brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA using polyplex nanomicelle."
Bioaterials. 270: 120681, 2021
Fukushima Y, Uchida S, Imai H, Nakatomi H, Kataoka K, Saito N, Itaka K.
Press release: http://www.tmd.ac.jp/english/press-release/20210128_1/index.html
- 2020.12.4
Presentations by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 43th Annual Meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan (Online Meeting)
"mRNA therapeutics for regulating cell fate and functions."
Keiji Itaka.
- 2020.11.21
Presentations by Prof. Keiji Itaka at Japan Bone Academy 2020 (Virtual Meeting)
"mRNA therapeutics: A new modality for treatment of bone and joint diseases."
Keiji Itaka.
- 2020年11月9-10日
Presentations by Dr. Yuta Fukushima and Dr. Hideyuki Nakanishi at 8th International mRNA Health Conference (Virtual conference)
"Intraventricular BDNF mRNA administration prevents ischemic neuronal death with the uptake predominantly by astrocytes." (Oral and poster presentation)
Yuta Fukushima, Keiji Itaka.
"Conditional translational regulation of synthetic mRNAs by caliciviral VPg protein-based translational activator (CaVT)." (Poster presentation)
Hideyuki Nakanishi, Keiji Itaka, Hirohide Saito.
- 2020.9.1
A new paper by Prof. Itaka was published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.
"Regulation of Chondrocyte Differentiation by Changing Intercellular Distances Using Type II Collagen Microfibers."
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. 6 (10), 5711-5719, 2020
Li J, Sasaki N, Itaka K, Terpstra M, Levato R, Matsusaki M.
- 2020.4.18
A new paper by Dr. Yanagihara and Uchida was published in Micromachines.
"mRNA as a Tool for Gene Transfection in 3D Cell Culture for Future Regenerative Therapy"
Micromachines 11(4): 426, 2020
Uchida S, Yanagihara K, Matsui A, Kataoka K, Itaka K
- 2020.2.1
Assistant Professor Dr. Hideyuki Nakanishi joined our lab.
- 2020.1.31
Dr. Fukushima received the IBB BioFuture Research Encouragement Prize.
Title: Neurological regeneration after cerebral ischemia with mRNA medicine.
- 2020.1.28
A new review paper by Prof. Itaka
"Development of DDS for mRNA therapeutics: Polyplex nanomicelle"
Drug Delivery System 35-1: 27-34, 2020
Keiji Itaka
- 2020.1.10
The talk of Prof. Itaka at the 6th COINS Symposium on December 13th was mentioned in Nikkei Beyond Health article.
https://project.nikkeibp.co.jp/behealth/atcl/feature/00004/011000133/?P=1
- 2019.12.13
Dr. Fukushima got an award of excellent poster presentation at 6th COINS Symposium.
Title: BDNF-expressing mRNA medicine for central nervous system disorders.
- 2019.12.13
Presentations by Prof. Keiji Itaka and Dr. Yuta Fukushima at 6th COINS Symposium (Kawasaki)
"Development of mRNA therapeutics for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine." (Invited talk)
Keiji Itaka.
"BDNF-expressing mRNA medicine for central nervous system disorders." (Poster presentation)
Yuta Fukushima, Samuel Crowley，Keiji Itaka.
- 2019.12.6
Poster presentation by Dr. Masahito Matsumoto at 42th Annual Meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan (Fukuoka)
"Regulation of cell differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells by Kinesin family."
Masahito Matsumoto, Deng Jia, Masahiko Okubo, Yosuke Mizuno, Tsuyoshi Sato, Keiji Itaka.
- 2019.11.12
Presentations by Prof. Keiji Itaka and Dr. Yuta Fukushima at 7th International mRNA Health Conference (Berlin, Germany)
"In vivo Delivery of mRNA Therapeutics by unique polyplex nanomicelles." (Invited talk)
Tetsuo Yoshida, Miki Masai, Satoshi Uchida, Shiro Akinaga, Kazunori Kataoka, Keiji Itaka.
"BDNF mRNA therapeutics for ischemic neuronal death." (Poster presentation)
Yuta Fukushima, Satoshi Uchida, Kazunori Kataoka, Keiji Itaka.
- 2019.11.7
Poster presentation by Dr. Masahito Matsumoto at ISSCR international symposium (Toronto, Canada)
"Integrative screening for identification of cell fate driver for beta cells with endocrine progenitor cell line Tec-3p and trancing model of dual-labeled Ngn3-eGFP/Ins-DsRed mice."
Masahito Matsumoto, Keiji Itaka, Yasushi Okazaki.
- 2019.10.25
Prof. Itaka got an award of excellent poster presentation at 6th JCR Basic Researh Conference.
Title: Application of mRNA therapeutics for joint and cartilage diseases.
- 2019.10.25
Poster presentation by Prof. Keiji Itaka and Dr. Masahito Matsumoto at 6th JCR Basic Researh Conference (Tokyo)
"Application of mRNA therapeutics for joint and cartilage diseases"
Keiji Itaka, Yuta Fukuhima, Masahito Matsumoto.
"Regulation of osteoblast differentiation by Kinesin family Kiff11"
Masahito Matsumoto, Deng Jia, Masahiko Okubo, Tsuyoshi Sato, Keiji Itaka.
- 2019.10.5
Presentations by Prof. Itaka at 2019 Tokyo Medical and Dental University-Taiwan Joint Symposium on Medical Innovation (Taipei Medical University, Taiwan).
"mRNA therapeutics for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine."
Keiji Itaka
- 2019.8.2
Invited talk by Prof. Itaka at the 5th Annual Meeting of Japan Muscle Society (Tokyo).
"mRNA medicine for treatment of locomotor system disorders"
Keiji Itaka
- 2019.7.15
Our research on treatment of spinal cord injury by mRNA therapeutics was reviewed in The Nikkei.
- 2019.7.10-12
Presentations by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 5th Annual Meeting of Nucleic Acids Therapeutics Society of Japan (Osaka)
"DDS for nucleci acid medicines and mRNA medicines." (Invited talk at educational session)
Keiji Itaka
"mRNA medicine encoding a cartilage-anabolic transcription factor for treatment of intervertebral disc disease."
Keiji Itaka, Chin-yu Lin, Samuel Crowley, Satoshi Uchida, Yuji Komaki, Kazunori Kataoka
- 2019.7.5
Mr. Fumiya EBIHARA (Master 2nd) got an award of excellent presentation at The 35th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Drug Delivery System.
Title: Early recovery after peripheral nerve injury by administration of mRNA medicine into skeletal muscle.
- 2019.7.4-5
Oral and poster presentations from our lab at The 35th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Drug Delivery System (Yokohama)
"mRNA therapeutics for regenerative medicine"
Keiji Itaka
"mRNA therapeutics for ischemic neuronal death: Intraventricular administration of BDNF mRNA using polyplex nanomicelles"
Yuta Fukushima, Satoshi Uchida, Kazunori Kataoka, Keiji Itaka
"Early recovery after peripheral nerve injury by administration of mRNA medicine into skeletal muscle"
Fumiya Ebihara, Kazuya Nagata, Yuta Fukushima, Masahito Matsumoto, Keiji Itaka
- 2019.7.1
A new member Ms. Deng Jia (Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences）joined in our lab.
- 2019.6.29
A new paper by Dr. Crowley was published in Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids.
"Enhancement of Motor Function Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury in Mice by Delivery of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor mRNA."
Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 17:465-476, 2019
Crowley ST, Fukushima Y, Uchida S, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
Press release: http://www.tmd.ac.jp/english/press-release/20190704_1/index.html
- 2019.5.10
A new review paper by Prof. Itaka
"Development of mRNA Therapeutics"
Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Regulatory Science (PMDRS): 50(5),242-249,2019
Keiji Itaka, Shiro Akinaga, Takao Inoue
- 2019.5.8
Poster presentation by Dr. Yuta Fukushima and Mr. Fumiya Ebihara at 19th Symposium for Gene Design and Delivery (Chiba University)
"mRNA therapeutics for ischemic neuronal death: Intraventricular administration of BDNF mRNA using polyplex nanomicelles"
Yuta Fukushima, Satoshi Uchida, Kazunori Kataoka, Keiji Itaka
"Muscle-targeted hydrodynamic injection of mRNA medicine for treating peripheral nerve injury"
Fumiya Ebihara, Kazuya Nagata, Yuta Fukushima, Masahito Matsumoto, Keiji Itaka
- 2019.4.8
Invited talk by Prof. Keiji Itaka at Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology: Protein Replacement through Nucleic Acid Therapies (2019.4.7-10: Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA)
"mRNA medicine for introducing therapeutic transcription factors"
Keiji Itaka
- 2019.2.22
A new paper:
"Treatment of intervertebral disk disease by administration of messenger RNA encoding a cartilage-anabolic transcription factor" was accepted in Mol Ther Nucleic Acids.
Mol Ther Nucleic Acids 16: 162-171, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtn.2019.02.012
Lin CY, Crowley S, Uchida S, Komaki Y, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
Press release: http://www.tmd.ac.jp/english/press-release/20190226_1/index.html
- 2019.1.1
Associate Professor Dr. Masahito Matsumoto joined our lab.
- 2018.11.13
Invited talk by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 6th International mRNA Health Conference (2018.11.12-13: Cambridge, MA, USA)
"mRNA medicine as a new paradigm of gene therapy for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine"
Keiji Itaka
- 2018.10.1
Assistant Professor Dr. Yuta Fukushima joined our lab.
- 2018.9.10
A new paper:
"Prolonged engraftment of transplanted hepatocytes in the liver by transient pro-survival factor supplementation using ex vivo mRNA transfection" was published in J Control Release.
J Control Release. 285:1-11, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2018.06.033.
Matsui A, Uchida S, Hayashi A, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
- 2018.9.5
Conference presentation by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 5th TERMIS World Congress (2018-9.4-7, Kyoko)
"mRNA-based therapy for cartilage degeneration diseases"
Keiji Itaka
- 2018.7.10
Invited talk by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 4th annual meeting of Nucleic Acids Therapeutics Society of Japan (Special symposium of Regulatory Science on mRNA therapeutics) (2018.7.9-11, Kyushu University)
Keiji Itaka
- 2018.4.27
A new paper:
"Combined CatWalk Index: an improved method to measure mouse motor function using the automated gait analysis system" was published in BMC Res Notes.”
BMC Research Notes11:263, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-018-3374-x
Crowley S, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
- 2018.4.18
A new paper:
"Treatment of Bone Defects by Transplantation of Genetically Modified Mesenchymal Stem Cell Spheroids about treatment of bone defect using MSC spheroid transplantation"
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 9: 358-366, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2018.04.006
Yanagihara K, Uchida S, Ohba S, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
- 2017.11.15
Conference presentation by Prof. Keiji Itaka at 5th International mRNA Health Conference at Berlin, Germany
"mRNA-based therapy for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine"
Keiji Itaka
- 2017.10.18
A new paper:
"Glycaemic control boosts glucosylated nanocarrier crossing the BBB into the brain"
Nature Communications 8: 1001, 2017
Anraku Y, Kuwahara H, Fukusato Y, Mizoguchi A, Ishii T, Nitta K, Matsumoto Y, Toh K, Miyata K, Uchida S, Nishina K, Osada K, Itaka K, Nishiyama N, Mizusawa H, Yamasoba T, Yokota T, Kataoka K.
- 2017.9.25
A new paper:
"Designing immunostimulatory double stranded messenger RNA with maintained translational activity through hybridization with poly A sequences for effective vaccination"
Biomaterials. 2018 150:162-170. PMID: 29031816
Uchida S, Yoshinaga N, Yanagihara K, Yuba E, Kataoka K, Itaka K.
- 2017.8.2
Conference presentation by Dr. Kosuke Nozaki at The Tenth International Conference on the Science and Technology for Advanced Ceramics (STAC-10) in Yokohama, Japan
"Electrical and structural evaluation of sodium ion doped beta-tricalcium phosphate"
Kosuke Nozaki, Takayuki Endo, Naohiro Horiuchi, Kimihiro Yamashita, Kazuaki Hashimoto, Keiji Itaka, Akiko Nagai
- 2017.7.21
Conference presentation by Prof. Keiji Itaka at Japan Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (JSGCT) in Okayama, Japan
"mRNA-based therapeutics for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine"
Keiji Itaka
- 2017.5.12
Dr. Sam Crowley (Innovation Center of NanoMedicine) made a presentation at ASGCT 20th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
"Nonviral Delivery of BDNF mRNA Polyplex Improves Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice"
Samuel T. Crowley, Satoshi Uchida, Kazunori Kataoka, Keiji Itaka
- 2017.5.1
Prof. Keiji Itaka made a presentation at TIDES: Oligonucleotide&Peptide Therapeutics in San Diego.
"mRNA-based therapeutics for intractable diseases and regenerative medicine"
Keiji Itaka
- 2017.4.16
Dr. Yuta Fukushima made a invited lecture at The 2nd Japan-US Technical Information Exchange Forum on Blast Injury JUFBI 2017 in Tokyo.
"mRNA-based therapy for cerebral ischemia -Enhanced neuroprotective effects of astrocytes by BDNF mRNA"
Yuta Fukushima, Satoshi Uchida, Hideaki Imai, Kazunori Kataoka, Nobuhito Saito, Keiji Itaka.
