Research System

This project is mainly organized by Hokkaido Univ. and Oxford Univ., and consists of two research areas, 1) immunology research and 2) structural biology research;

  1. Hokkaido Univ. group (main corresponding researcher, Prof. Katsumi Maenaka and, young dispatched researchers, Dr. Kimiko Kuroki and Dr. Hideo Fukuhara) and Oxford Univ. group (main collaborative researcher, Prof. Sarah Rowland-Jones and Dr. Simon Kollnberger (Currently in Cardiff Univ.), and collaborative researcher, Dr. Simon J Davis and Dr. Paul Bowness. The aim of this group is to develop control measures, such as novel HIV vaccines, by combining the unique screening technique at Hokkaido Univ. and the knowledge in clinical genomics at Oxford Univ.
  2. Hokkaido Univ. group (Responsible researchers, Prof. Min Yao, Dr. Toyoyuki Ose and Dr. Yoshikazu Tanana and young dispatched researchers, Dr. Atsushi Furukawa and Dr. Shunsuke Kita) and Oxford Univ. group (collaborative researcher, Prof. David Stuart, Prof. E. Yvonne Jones and Dr. Juha T Huiskonen. The aim of this group is to understand and develop advanced practices, next generation electron microscopy and X-ray free electron laser, in addition to the existing methodologies, such as protein expression methods and protein interaction analyses, which Hokkaido Univ. already possesses for structural analysis of HIV Env protein.

The collaboration of the first two groups may provide us with the understanding in both cellular immunity and humoral immunity, and, finally, develop the novel peptide vaccines and drugs against HIV. Furthermore, the garnered methods and technologies will be used at center of operations at Hokkaido Univ. for infectious diseases, structural and immunology research.