Division of Regenerative Medicine

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology has given us the ability to generate and expand various types of differentiated cell from patient-derived cells; iPS cells are now being applied to cell therapy and being used to study the mechanisms of disease. Our aim is to create experimental platforms using patient-derived iPS cells and genetically modified animal models suitable for research on human diseases. Recently, we have attempted to create a transgenic primate model of human neurodegenerative diseases through forced expression of dominant mutant genes. Advances in disease modeling with patient-derived cells and nonhuman primates will have an enormous effect on future opportunities and advances in biomedical research.