Takayuki Asahara received his M. D. from Tokyo Medical College in 1984, and performed residencies in cardiology and emergency medicine. He worked as a research fellow in cardiology at the Tokyo Medical College Hospital from 1989 to 1993 before moving to a fellowship in cardiovascular research at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston. He was appointed assistant professor at Tufts School of Medicine in 1995, and associate professor at the Tokai University Institute of Medical Sciences in 2000.
In addition to his current position as CDB team leader, Dr. Asahara serves as director of Regenerative Medicine and Research at the Kobe Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation, and Professor of Physiology at the Tokai University School of Medicine.
Takayuki Asahara will never forget the moment he found a colony of cells growing on the surface of an injured artery treated by the transfer of a vascular endothelial growth factor gene, an experience that prompted this cardiologist to open an embryology textbook, and thus begin his quest to find applications for developmental biology in regenerative medicine. Soon thereafter, Asahara gained recognition for his identification of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and their role in the generation of blood vessels. His research laboratory later worked to elucidate EPC biology and apply the findings to cell transplantation and gene therapy treatments for cardiovascular diseases. His research currently focuses on the isolation and characterization of post-natal pluripotent stem cells, for which Asahara hopes to develop new therapeutic applications in the re-growth of blood vessels and organs.
Research Aims:
- To isolate post-natal pluripotent stem cells from adult tissues
- To define the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the commitment of stem cells to vascular lineages
- To elucidate the contribution of stem cell vascular development during organogenesis, and transfer the findings to therapeutic applications