LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Immunology Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab explores infection, inflammation, and cancer through the mechanisms by which the body detects pathogens and protects itself.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how immunity detects pathogens
The Immunology Lab studies how the body detects pathogens such as bacteria and viruses and defends itself.
Immune responses prevent infections, but when excessive they can also cause inflammatory diseases.
Using innate immune sensors and the function of MHC genes as clues, the lab works on how Crohn's disease develops, how cancer evades the immune system, and the development of new cancer immunotherapies.
Key terms
- Innate immunity
- Fast-acting immunity that first detects pathogens and protects the body. It is also needed to trigger the adaptive immunity that acts afterward
- MHC class I
- A molecule that displays markers of viruses or cancer found inside the cell on the cell surface and signals them to T cells. In humans it is called HLA
- Crohn's disease
- A disease that causes chronic inflammation in the digestive tract. It is relatively common in young people and repeatedly alternates between improvement and flare-ups
NewsLab news
A paper by Project Assistant Professor Igarashi and colleagues published in Experimental Gerontology
A paper by Project Assistant Professor Igarashi and colleagues published in Cancer Science
A paper by Project Assistant Professor Igarashi and colleagues published in Inflammation and Regeneration
A doctoral student received the Outstanding Paper Award of the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Medicine, and the Faculty of Medicine
"TRED-I system," a new technology to increase MHC class I on cancer cells, published in PNAS
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies how pathogens are detected by the immune system and how protective responses arise. It also investigates how excessive immune responses lead to inflammatory diseases and how cancer evades immunity.
*Illustrative imageToll-like receptors that detect pathogens
The lab studies how signaling by receptors on the cell surface that detect bacteria and viruses (TLRs) is tuned to the appropriate strength. It aims to clarify the role this regulation plays in infectious and inflammatory diseases.
*Illustrative imageCITA, a factor that controls MHC class I levels
The lab studies the function of NLRC5 (CITA), a factor that induces expression of MHC class I genes. It focuses on how NLRC5 works together with other factors to switch on genes involved in MHC class I.
*Illustrative imageNLR proteins, sensors inside cells
The lab studies the NLR family of proteins, which detect bacteria and bacterial products inside cells. It works to clarify how pathogens are detected and how the subsequent signals are transmitted.
*Illustrative imageNOD2 and Crohn's disease
The lab studies how NOD2, a major genetic risk factor for Crohn's disease, protects the body from bacteria in the gut. Using mouse models carrying NOD2 mutations, it studies how Crohn's disease arises.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Immunology Lab are faculty, doctoral and master's students, postdoctoral researchers, technical assistants, secretaries, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorKoichi Kobayashi
- Assistant ProfessorTsutomu Tanaka
- Project Assistant ProfessorGabriel Talaia
- Project Assistant ProfessorYuichi Igarashi
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Immunology Lab
Neurology LabFaculty of Medicine, School of MedicineGenetic analysis and molecular biology of neurological disea…
Breast Surgery LabFaculty of Medicine, School of MedicineResearch on biological characteristics of breast cancer, end…
Cancer Genomic Medicine LabFaculty of Medicine, School of MedicineCancer genome analysis, cancer genomic abnormalities, cancer…
Tumor Pathology LabFaculty of Medicine, School of MedicineComprehensive research in surgical pathology and human patho…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Macrophage ( )” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Toll-like receptors that detect pathogens: “2z7x” Deposition authors: Lee, J.O., Jin, M.S., Kim, S.E., Heo, J.Y.; visualization author: User:Astrojan / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- CITA, a factor that controls MHC class I levels: “PDB 1zvs EBI” Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute / Public domain (cropped)
- NLR proteins, sensors inside cells: “SalmonellaNIAID” 作者不詳 / Public domain (cropped)
- NOD2 and Crohn's disease: “Histology of paneth cells, original” Mikael Häggström, M.D. / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (神経内科学): “Neurological tools” Ali Raheem / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (乳腺外科学): “Mammogram showing normal dense breasts” Unknown photographer / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (がんゲノム医療学): “DNA Nanoball sequencing flow cell” Suspencewl / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (腫瘍病理学): “Histopathology of prostate adenocarcinoma involving adipose tissue” Mikael Häggström, M.D. / CC0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.