Koichi Araki, DVM, PhD

I received my PhD from Hokkaido University, Japan. During my PhD study, I became interested in infectious diseases and T cell immunity.

In my laboratory, I’ve studied CD8 T cell immunity, which is important for controlling viral infections and intracellular bacterial and parasitic infections. It is now clear that CD8 T cells are also involved in immunity against tumors. There is considerable interest in cancer immunotherapy that stimulates CD8 T cell immunity.

My research focus is to understand the mechanisms of how antigen specific CD8 T cell responses are regulated during acute and chronic infection. I’m looking into investigating the role of 1) translational regulation, 2) mTOR activity, and 3) autophagy in effector, memory and exhausted T cell differentiation. The ultimate goal of my research is to develop novel drugs or strategies from information obtained in my basic studies to cure diseases by modulating the immune system.

My studies of CD8 T cell immunity can help us learn and develop better methods to prevent and treat infectious diseases. It also has applications in immunotherapy for cancer treatment against tumors.

I have been a researcher for more than a decade and began my work at Cincinnati Children’s in 2019.