Organization

Division of Innate Immune Regulation

Satoshi Uematsu

The intestinal immune system has evolved mechanisms that maintain immunological tolerance to food antigens and commensal organisms. However, it also recognizes invasive pathogens and induces appropriate protective immune responses to eliminate them. Innate immune cells such as dendritic cells and macrophages in intestine have unique features to induce Th17 cells, regulatory T cells and IgA-producing plasma cells, which play critical roles in intestine-specific immune responses.

Our laboratory aims to clarify the whole mechanisms of intestinal immunity, which finely controls the balance between activation and tolerance by analyzing the function of each innate immune cell existed in intestinal mucosa.

Since innate immunity initiates systemic immune responses, it is one of good targets for immune regulation. We will develop immunosuppression therapies for severe inflammatory diseases and allergic diseases, potent cancer immune therapies and effective vaccines by targeting on intestinal innate immune cells.

Our laboratory belongs to Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo and accepts graduate students of the master’s course and doctor’s course. We will train graduate students to acquire proficiency in analysis of mucosal immunity, to design experiments and to write articles. Finally, we will let graduate students decide the themes by themselves and carry them out. We try to develop professional researchers who can conduct researches independently.

Our research goal is to control immune activation and tolerance at will. If you are interested in our researches, please come to and join our laboratory.

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