Dr. Nanako Kawaguchi
I have examined the stemness and differentiation ability of adult-derived cardiac stem cells and induced pluripotent cells (iPS) cells for the past 13 years. I primarily focused on mesenchymal differentiation by using microarray and proteomic analysis. During this research, we observed that stem cells regulate the surrounding cells via soluble factors.
I am further interested in the clinical applications of these stem cells, such as using them as a replacement for damaged tissues or as a source of soluble factors to enhance the viability of the cells within the target tissues (infracted heart). Furthermore, I joined a project for establishing in vitro disease model for congenital heart diseases using the patients’ derived iPS cells performed at the department of Pediatric Cardiology in Tokyo Women’s Medical University. Recently, I also joined the pathological studies for pulmonary artery hypertention using rat model.
1990-1998 Assistant Professor, Tokyo Medical and Dental University. 1998-2001 Researcher of Japan and Science Technology. 2001-2005 Researcher at the company. 2005-2010 Senior Assistant Professor, Tokyo Women`s Medical University. 2010-2011 Researcher at National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 2011-present Senior scientist, visiting Senior lecturer, Tokyo Women`s Medical University (transient).