Yutaka Tagaya
Institute of Human Virology
University of Maryland, USA
Dr. Tagaya received MD from Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine in 1986 and PhD in 1990 from the Graduate School, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University in Molecular Biochemistry. My research focus at that time was the analysis of a link between T cell activation and thiol-related reactions. From 1990 to 1994.I characterized and cloned this factor. In 1994, I joined the National Cancer Institute (Tom Waldmann’s lab) as a visiting associate and started my research on cytokines, in particular on interleukin-15. I have identified a new class of receptor for this cytokine, then demonstrated that this factor is critical for NK cell development. In 2002, my research group at the National Cancer Institute has proposed a new mode of IL-15 action in vivo, the IL-15 trans-presentation paradigm, and demonstrated a very unique nature of this cytokine.These complexes will be presented in trans to NK and T cells, the primary in vivo target for IL-15. My group subsequently showed that the trans-presentation mechanism operates in cancer immunity as well as in various autoimmune diseases to cause pathological activation of CD8 T cells.
His research interest includes Cytokine biology and signal transduction, role of Interferon regulatory factor (IRF)8 in autoimmune diseases, HTLV-I related diseases (ATL and HAM-TSP), and most recently elucidation of the pathogenesis of HIV. His research group is currently located in Baltimore, Maryland at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine since Jan of 2011.
