1．Members

Project Leader	KAWAHARA Masahiro
Researcher	BEPPU Kana
Technical Assistant	MIURA Masashi
Secretary	NAKANISHI Yuki

2．Background and objectives

Vaccines that make impacts on our immune system are becoming more widely used for preventing infectious diseases and for treating diseases such as cancer, lifestyle-related diseases, and allergies. In addition, vaccine materials are rapidly applied to practical use, using not only chemical substances such as viruses, their constituent proteins, and immunostimulatory peptides, but also cells that consist of the immune system, such as dendritic cells and CAR-T cells. In this project, we explore how to create functional cell vaccines, which are important modalities in the future, and aim to apply them to the treatment of various diseases.

3．Overview of our research

(1) Cell fate-controlling systems using chimeric receptors

We develop antigen-responsive chimeric receptors whose ligand recognition domain is replaced with antigen variable regions. The chimeric receptors control various cell fates with specific antigens, which is useful for regenerative medicine and gene therapy.

(2) Drug discovery platforms using cell fate signals

We design fusion proteins composed of proteins of interest and growth-signaling molecules. Such fusion proteins transduce growth signals when the proteins of interest interact with each other. Based on this principle, we screen antibody, peptide, and chemical compound libraries on the surface or in the cytosol of cells.

(3) Custom designs of intracellular signal transduction

We artificially locate signaling molecule-binding motifs in the cytoplasmic domain of synthetic receptors, which enables specific activation of target signaling molecules. Using the synthetic receptors, we analyze contribution of signaling molecules related to cell fate control, and screen motif sequences that efficiently induce specific cell fates.

Laboratory of Cell Vaccine

Website	https://www.nibiohn.go.jp/cellvaccine/
E-mail	m-kawahara[at]nibiohn.go.jp