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ATLAS Project Research Members

National Cancer Center Hospital (Tokyo, Japan)

KOHSAKA Shinji (Group for Cancer Development and Progression, Division of Cellular Signaling)

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KOHSAKA Shinji M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. KOHSAKA's story

After I graduated medical school, I entered in a Ph.D. course of basic pathology lab where I researched tumorigenesis and drug resistance of glioma. Then, I spent two years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a postdoc and pursuited the molecular target in sarcoma using next-genaration sequencing. I identified that a mutation in MYOD1 gene, a transcription factor regulating the muscle differentiation, is involed in tumorgenesis of sarcoma. After coming back to Japan, I joined Dr. Mano's lab and started in a study to develop Todai OncoPanel, a cancer panel testing, and the MANO method, a high-throughput functional assay for gene variants.    

Research interests

I am interesed in molecular target identification to progress the new drug development. I am also keen on the construction of new assay using cutting-edge technologies. I am currently building assays for liquid biopsy. 

Professional Experiences

  • 2011-2012    Fellow, Department of Cancer Pathology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine.
  • 2012-2014    Fellow, Molecular Pathology & Diagnostics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NY.
  • 2015-2017    Assistant professor, Division of Cellular Signaling, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo.
  • 2017-2020    Senior Staff Scientist, Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute.
  • 2020-Present  Chief, Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute.

Selected publications

  1. Nakamura IT, Kohsaka S, et al. Comprehensive functional evaluation of variants of fibroblast growth factor receptor genes in cancer. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Jul 16;5
  2. Nagano M, Kohsaka S, Hayashi T, Ueno T, Kojima S, Shinozaki-Ushiku A, Morita S, Tsuda M, Tanaka S, Shinohara T, Omori Y, Sugaya F, Kato H, Narita Y, Nakajima J, Suzuki K, Takamochi K, Mano H. Comprehensive molecular profiling of pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Jun 22;5
  3. Kohsaka S, Hirata M, Ikegami M, Ueno T, Kojima S, Sakai T, Ito K, Naka N, Ogura K, Kawai A, Iwata S, Okuma T, Yonemoto T, Kobayashi H, Suehara Y, Hiraga H, Kawamoto T, Motoi T, Oda Y, Matsubara D, Matsuda K, Nishida Y, and Mano H. Comprehensive molecular and clinicopathological profiling of desmoid tumors. European Journal of Cancer. 145, 109-120, 2021. 
  4. Hirose T, Ikegami M, Endo M, Matsumoto Y, Nakashima Y, Mano H, and Kohsaka S. Extensive functional evaluation of exon 20 insertion mutations of EGFR. Lung Cancer. 152, 135-142, 2021.
  5. Ikegami M, Kohsaka S, et al. High-Throughput Functional Evaluation of BRCA2 Variants of Unknown Significance. Nature Communications. 11, 2573, 2020. 
  6. Kohsaka S, Hayashi T, Nagano M, Ueno T, Kojima S, Kawazu M, Shiraishi Y, Kishikawa S, Suehara Y, Takahashi F, Takahashi K, Suzuki K, Takamochi K, and Mano H. Identification of novel CD74-NRG2α fusion from comprehensive profiling of lung adenocarcinoma in Japanese never or light smokers. Journal of Thoracic Oncology. 2020 Jun, 15 (6), 948-961. 
  7. Nagano M, Kohsaka S, Ueno T, et al. High-throughput functional evaluation of variants of unknown significance in ERBB2. Clin Cancer Res. 24, 5112-5122, 2018. 
  8. Kohsaka S, Nagano M, Ueno T, et al. A method of high-throughput functional evaluation of EGFR gene variants of unknown significance in cancer. Sci Transl Med. 9, eaan6566, 2017. 
  9. Yasuda T, Tsuzuki S, Kawazu M, Hayakawa F, Kojima S, Ueno T, Imoto N, Kohsaka S, et al. Recurrent DUX4 fusions in B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia of adolescents and young adults. Nature Genetics. 48, 569-574, 2016.
  10. Kohsaka S, et al. A recurrent neomorphic mutation in MYOD1 defines a clinically aggressive subset of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma associated with PI3K/AKT pathway mutations. Nature Genetics. 46, 595-600, 2014.

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