Moderators
Toyohara, Takafumi
- Tohoku University Hospital, Department of Nephrology and Hypertension
Takafumi Toyohara, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of Nephrology and Hypertension at Tohoku University Hospital. As a medical graduate of Tohoku University, he completed his residency at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Nephrology from Tohoku University in 2009, he served as a nephrologist at Tohoku University Hospital and Toranomon Hospital. He joined the Osafune lab at CiRA (Center for iPS Cell Research and Application), Kyoto University, to work on kidney regeneration and cell therapies using iPS cells. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Cowan lab, Harvard University, his research focused on in vitro disease models and atherosclerosis using iPS cells. Returning to Tohoku University, he developed expertise in nephrology and bioengineering, converting iPS cells into 3D vasculature to create personalized 'disease-in-a-dish' models for nephrology and hypertension patients. His research also explores the mechanisms of aging in the kidney and vascular tissue.