Tsuyoshi Kiniwa, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Tsuyoshi graduated from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 2011 with a department in Applied Biological Science. Then, Tsuyoshi joined the Ph.D. course at the University of Tokyo and began studying in Dr. Atsushi Miyajima's lab. For his Ph.D. work, Tsuyoshi focused on NK cells, a kind of innate lymphoid cells showing cytotoxicity and IFNγ production against tumor or virus-infected cells. They discovered that overexpression of IL-4, a critical cytokine inducing parasite expulsion and allergic diseases, caused the expansion and activation of NK cells. They named these activated NK cells IL-4-induced NK cells and demonstrated their possibility of inhibiting the extensive inflammation during the parasite infection. Tsuyoshi received his Ph.D. in 2016 and joined Dr. Kazuyo Moro's lab in RIKEN to investigate the regulation mechanism for allergic inflammation by focusing on group 2 innate lymphoid cells, novel lymphocytes playing a crucial role in allergic diseases. After that, he moved to Dr. Schafer's lab as a Postdoctoral Associate. Now he is investigating how microglia change their phenotype when rewiring neural networks by synaptic engulfment, focusing mainly on the effect of immune responses.