[S-01] Symposium 01
A novel approach to decipher molecular mechanisms of human demyelinating diseases

[S-01-2] A molecular immunopathological approach to decipher mechanisms of human demyelinating diseases

^○Tatsuro Misu (Department of Neurology, Tohoku University Hospital, Japan)

Molecular targeted therapy has rapidly been developing in human intractable demyelinating diseases. However, it is still extremely difficult to cure demyelinating diseases and repair damaged tissues, especially progressive form of multiple sclerosis. To develop a novel therapy for intractable demyelinating diseases, it is critical to uncover novel target molecules involved in disease cascades. Large scale genetic studies and bioinformatics as well as genetically engineered animals are powerful tools for discovering novel risk molecules and examining functions of these molecules. Combined neuropathological and neuroimaging approaches are also useful to clarify disease cascades. In this symposium, four distinguished speakers give lectures on genetic, immunopathological, molecular imaging, and genetically engineered mouse approaches to identify novel molecules involved in pathomechanisms of human demyelinating diseases.

Dr. Tatsuro Misu is presently the Lecturer at the Department of Neurology, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan, and leads the MS Research Group in Tohoku University. After he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Hirosaki University with MD in 1997, he pursued clinical and post-graduate training at the Department of Neurology in Tohoku University Hospital and obtained his PhD from Tohoku University in 2003. In 2005, he was an Assistant Professor at Tohoku University. In 2010, he stayed in Vienna as a guest researcher in the department of Neuroimmunology at Vienna Medical University (Prof. Lassmann). His principal research activity has been in clinical neurology, neuroimmunology and neuropathology, especially in neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis, and clinical management of such disease patients. He was awarded as the best presenter from Japanese Society of Neuroimmunology (2007), Pan-Asian (2008) and European (2013) committee of treatment and research in MS.