Fusao Hirata
Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Wayne State University, USA
Dr. Fusao Hirata received his M.D from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan, and obtained Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Kyoto University. During his tenure as Assistant Professor at Kyoto University, he discovered indolamin-2,3-dioxygenase, a novel enzyme that mimics the anti-tumor action of gInterferon. He moved to National Institute of Health, Bethesda, where his research was focused on modification of signal transduction by steroids. He is co-discoverer of annexin A1 as a second messenger of anti-inflammatory action of steroids. In the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, he discovered that annexin A1 is phosphorylated by oncogenic tyrosine kinases in signal transduction of growth factors. In Wayne State University, he recently found that nuclear annexin A1, a biomarker of cell transformation, is a helicase with high affinity for damaged DNA and that it is involved in DNA damage induced mutagenesis. Dr. Hirata’s expertise in the field of annexin A1 is documented in over 60 publications.
Dr. Fusao Hirata research interests are inflammation and carcinogenesis, DNA damage induced mutagenesis, cancer chemoprevention, dynamic aspect of membrane phospholipid metabolism, signal transduction of receptors, indoleamine and tryptophan metabolis.
