Takemasa Tsuji, PhD

Dr. Takemasa Tsuji joined the faculty in 2013 as an Assistant Professor of Oncology in the Center for Immunotherapy at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research goal is to develop potent immunotherapeutic strategies that induce life-long tumor remission in broad cancer patients. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Science from Hirosaki University and PhD from Hokkaido University in JAPAN. After obtaining his PhD, he conducted laboratory research as a post-doctoral research fellow in the laboratories of Dr. Takashi Nishimura (Hokkaido University), Dr. Lloyd J. Old (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Institute/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NY), and Dr. Kunle Odunsi (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, NY). His research during post-doctoral training has been focused on understanding the mechanisms of immunologic recognition of human cancers such that specific immunotherapies can be applied on a personalized basis.

His research in the past few years has led to the identification and characterization of a unique CD4+ T cell subset, which is named “tumor-recognizing CD4+ helper T cell (TR-CD4 cell)”, that directly recognizes cancer cells. Through direct recognition of cancer cells, TR-CD4 cells significantly inhibit tumor cell growth and potently induce or augment anti-tumor functions of other immune-cell subsets. To develop novel immunotherapy against ovarian cancers utilizing TR-CD4 cells, he will conduct preclinical research with the support from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Liz Tilberis Award. Dr. Tsuji received Alliance Foundation Awards from Roswell-Park Alliance foundation. He has also been a co-investigator in a New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM) grant.