Old stories: gene therapy vectors and xenotransplantation

講演要旨

The speaker has been working in London, UK since 1990 and his research on retrovirus biology has expanded his interest to several aspects of viral infection and evolution with an emphasis on envelope-receptor interaction and also applied side of the research focused on the use of retroviruses as vectors for gene therapy and zoonotic infection in xenotransplantation.
This talk will highlight some topics in his research development through three themes, xenotransplantation, pseudotype viruses and gene therapy.

Yasuhiro Takeuchi has been based in London, UK for 23 years initially at Institute of Cancer Research and then UCL. He studied Biochemistry at University of Tokyo and obtained MSc on physicochemical study of nucleic acids and then PhD on molecular biology of small nuclear RNA. He started his research on retroviruses upon the appointment as a junior lecturer at Gunma University, Japan in 1986. Since then he has been working on human viruses, HIV and HTLV and mammalian gammaretroviruses including porcine endogenous retroviruses. His research on retrovirus biology has concerned several aspects of infection and evolution with an emphasis on envelope-receptor interaction. The applied side of the research has been focused on the use of retroviruses as vectors for gene therapy and zoonotic infection in xenotransplantation. Since September 2016 Yasu has been 30% seconded to Advanced Therapies, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), now the research institute of The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Yasu will in his talk highlight some topics in his research development mainly on viral vectors and microbial safety in xenotransplantation and discuss his current research directions.