Prof. Norihiro NISHIMOTO (Japan)

Norihiro Nishimoto is Professor of the Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Wakayama Medical University and of the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University. Professor Nishimoto received an MD from Osaka University Medical School in 1984. In 1989, he obtained his PhD from the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Developmental and Clinical Immunology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA. He returned to Japan in 1991 and worked at the Osaka Teishin Hospital and Osaka University Medical School. In 1995 he was appointed assistant professor at Osaka University Medical School, and from 1997 he was associate professor at Osaka University Medical School and at Osaka University. In 2003 he was appointed professor of the Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences at Osaka University, and of the Department of Molecular Medicine, Osaka University Medical School. His current positions at Osaka and Wakayama Medical Universities commenced during 2009.

Professor Nishimoto’s research interests centre on many aspects of autoimmune disorders and cancers, including the regulation of cytokine signalling, bioinformatics analysis of gene expression and systems biology in these conditions. His work focuses on the development of novel treatment strategies for these diseases, particularly targeted cytokine inhibition, anti-IL-6 receptor antibody therapy and gene therapy.