Microbiology
Outline
The Department of Microbiology made a new start in May, 2016, when Professor Masaya Higuchi transferred from the Department of Virology, Niigata University School of Medicine. Our research topics include stress response of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP10 and functional analysis of natural immunity. We also continue our research on the mechanism of persistent infection and pathogenesis of Theilovirus (Theiler’s virus and Saffold virus). We investigate and analyze each virus protein’s role in viral growth and their effects on the host from various angles, aiming to understand the relationship between virus infection and diseases such as autoimmune diseases and diabetes.
e-mail: microbio@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
Faculty
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Secretary
NOZAWA Miki
Research Achievements
Higuchi M, Kawamura H, Matsuki H, Hara T, Takahashi M, Saito S, Saito K, Jiang S, Naito M, Kiyonari H, Fujii M: USP10 is an essential deubiquitinase for hematopoiesis and inhibits apoptosis of long-term hematopoietic stem cells. Stem Cell Reports 7: 1116-1129 (2016)
Shimizu A, Himeda T, Okuwa T, Muraki Y, Ohara Y: Role(s) of Leader protein of Saffold virus. J. Clinic. Exp. Neuroimmunol. 5: 362-366 (2014)
Himeda T, Okuwa T, Muraki Y, Ohara Y: Possibility of neuropathogenesis of Saffold virus suggested from the in vitro virus persistence. J. Clinic. Exp. Neuroimmunol. 4: 163–164 (2013)
Himeda T, Hosomi T, Okuwa T, Muraki Y, Ohara Y: Saffold virus type 3 (SAFV-3) persists in HeLa cells. PLoS One. 8(1): e53194 (2013)
Himeda T, Ohara Y: Saffold virus, a novel human cardiovirus with unknown pathogenicity. J. Virol. 86: 1292-1296 (2012)
External Research Funding
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Koichi Utani 2022-2024
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Takako Okuwa 2021-2023
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Masaya Higuchi 2017-2022