Special Advisor Kimishige Ishizaka M.D., Ph.D. Deputy Directors Takashi Saito Ph.D. Director Toshio Hirano M.D., Ph.D. Research Coordination Office Masaru Taniguchi Toshitada Takemori M.D., Ph.D. M.D., Ph.D. Haruka Iwano D.V.M., Ph.D. Peter Burrows Ph.D. International Advisory Council Max D. Cooper, Chair Bernard Malissen Hiromitsu Nakauchi Ralph M. Steinman Rudolf Aebersold Diane Mathis William E. Paul Kiyoshi Takatsu Antonio Coutinho Ruslan Medzhitov Klaus Rajewsky Dale Umetsu Alain Fischer Masayuki Miyasaka Takehiko Sasazuki Arthur Weiss Paul W. Kincade Nobuyuki Miyasaka Kazuo Sugamura Groups Teams Units International Research Units Lab. for Cell Signaling Takashi Saito Ph.D. Lab. for Immune Diversity Ji-Yang Wang Ph.D. Unit for Molecular Systems Immunology Makio Tokunaga Ph.D. Unit for Thymic Environment Willem van Ewijk Ph.D. Lab. for Lymphocyte Differentiation Tomohiro Kurosaki M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Signal Network Masato Kubo Ph.D. Unit for Human Disease Model Fumihiko Ishikawa M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immunogenetics Miguel Vidal Ph.D. Lab. for Immunogenomics Osamu Ohara, Ph.D. Lab. for Immunochaperones Hei-ichiro Udono M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immune Surveillance Takeshi Watanabe M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Developmental Genetics Haruhiko Koseki M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Mucosal Immunity Sidonia Fagarasan M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immune Homeostasis Shohei Hori Ph.D. Lab. for Immune Regulation Masaru Taniguchi M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Lymphocyte Development Hiroshi Kawamoto M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Cellular Immunotherapy Shin-ichiro Fujii M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Autoimmune Regulation Osami Kanagawa M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Epithelial Immunobiology Hiroshi Ohno M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immunoinformatics S. Sujatha Mohan Ph.D. Lab. for Cytokine Signaling Toshio Hirano M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Innate Cellular Immunity Masato Tanaka M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Lymphocyte Cloning Andrei Rybouchkin Ph.D. Lab. for Immunological Memory Toshitada Takemori M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Host Defense Tsuneyasu Kaisho M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Single Molecule Immunoimaging Kumiko Sakata-Sogawa Ph.D. Lab. for Dendritic Cell Immunobiology Katsuaki Sato Ph.D. Unit for Therapeutic Model Kanako Shimimzu M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Infectious Immunity Satoshi Ishido M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Transcriptional Regulation Ichiro Taniuchi M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Immunogenetics Hisahiro Yoshida M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Vaccine Design Yasuyuki Ishii Ph.D. Research Center for Allergy and Immunology (RCAI) Special Advisor Kimishige Ishizaka M.D., Ph.D. Organization Deputy Directors Takashi Saito Ph.D. Director Toshio Hirano M.D., Ph.D. Research Coordination Office Masaru Taniguchi Toshitada Takemori M.D., Ph.D. M.D., Ph.D. Haruka Iwano D.V.M., Ph.D. Peter Burrows Ph.D. International Advisory Council Max D. Cooper, Chair Bernard Malissen Hiromitsu Nakauchi Ralph M. Steinman Rudolf Aebersold Diane Mathis William E. Paul Kiyoshi Takatsu Antonio Coutinho Ruslan Medzhitov Klaus Rajewsky Dale Umetsu Alain Fischer Masayuki Miyasaka Takehiko Sasazuki Arthur Weiss Paul W. Kincade Nobuyuki Miyasaka Kazuo Sugamura Groups Teams Units International Research Units Lab. for Cell Signaling Takashi Saito Ph.D. Lab. for Immune Diversity Ji-Yang Wang Ph.D. Unit for Molecular Systems Immunology Makio Tokunaga Ph.D. Unit for Thymic Environment Willem van Ewijk Ph.D. Lab. for Lymphocyte Differentiation Tomohiro Kurosaki M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Signal Network Masato Kubo Ph.D. Unit for Human Disease Model Fumihiko Ishikawa M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immunogenetics Miguel Vidal Ph.D. Lab. for Immunogenomics Osamu Ohara, Ph.D. Lab. for Immunochaperones Hei-ichiro Udono M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immune Surveillance Takeshi Watanabe M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Developmental Genetics Haruhiko Koseki M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Mucosal Immunity Sidonia Fagarasan M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immune Homeostasis Shohei Hori Ph.D. Lab. for Immune Regulation Masaru Taniguchi M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Lymphocyte Development Hiroshi Kawamoto M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Cellular Immunotherapy Shin-ichiro Fujii M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Autoimmune Regulation Osami Kanagawa M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Epithelial Immunobiology Hiroshi Ohno M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Immunoinformatics S. Sujatha Mohan Ph.D. Lab. for Cytokine Signaling Toshio Hirano M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Innate Cellular Immunity Masato Tanaka M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Lymphocyte Cloning Andrei Rybouchkin Ph.D. Lab. for Immunological Memory Toshitada Takemori M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Host Defense Tsuneyasu Kaisho M.D., Ph.D. Unit for Single Molecule Immunoimaging Kumiko Sakata-Sogawa Ph.D. Lab. for Dendritic Cell Immunobiology Katsuaki Sato Ph.D. Unit for Therapeutic Model Kanako Shimimzu M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Infectious Immunity Satoshi Ishido M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Transcriptional Regulation Ichiro Taniuchi M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Immunogenetics Hisahiro Yoshida M.D., Ph.D. Lab. for Vaccine Design Yasuyuki Ishii Ph.D. i Organization v Director’s Report Research Highlights 2 Good Housekeeping 3 Poor Transport Cuts to the Bone 4 Cell Fusion may Create Niche for Immune Cell Education 5 Interferon Production Mechanisms Revealed 6 Halting the Inflammation Overload 7 How Eating Cell ‘Corpses’ Reduces Inflammation 8 Signaling Simplified 9 Identification of a Novel Intracellular Second Messenger 10 Looking Beneath the Surface 11 Regulating Antibody Production 12 Immune Cells Stimulated by Calcium Levels 13 Silencing Allergic Inflammation 14 How Cells Switch From Killers to Helpers 15 Dampening Dangerous Inflammation 16 On the Road to a Vaccine Against Tumors 17 Understanding Cancer in Mice and Men 18 Award Winners 2007 19 Outstanding Contribution of the Year 20 2007 Excellent Paper Award and Excellent Poster of the Year Research Activities 24 Laboratory for Developmental Genetics 26 Research Unit for Lymphocyte Cloning 28 Laboratory for Lymphocyte Development 30 Laboratory for Transcriptional Regulation 32 Laboratory for Cell Signaling 34 Research Unit for Single Molecule Imaging 36 Laboratory for Lymphocyte Differentiation 38 Research Unit for Molecular Systems Immunology 40 Laboratory for Epithelial Immunobiology 42 Laboratory for Mucosal Immunity 44 Laboratory for Immunological Memory 46 Laboratory for Immune Diversity 48 Laboratory for Host Defense 50 Laboratory for Infectious Immunity 52 Laboratory for Dendritic Cell Immunobiology 54 Laboratory for Innate Cellular Immunity 56 Research Unit for Therapeutic Model 58 Laboratory for Autoimmune Regulation iii 60 Research Unit for Immune Homeostasis 62 Laboratory for Immune Regulation 64 Laboratory for Immunchaperones 66 Laboratory for Cytokine Signaling 68 Laboratory for Signal Network 70 Laboratory for Immunogenetics 72 Research Unit for Immune Tissue Engineering 74 Research Unit for Human Disease Model 76 Research Unit for Cellular Immunotherapy 78 Laboratory for Vaccine Design 80 Laboratory for Immunogenomics 82 Research Unit for Immunoinformatics 84 Laboratory for Lymphocyte Development 86 Research Unit for Immunoepigenetics 88 Central Facilities 90 RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researcher (SPDR) and Junior Research Associate (JRA) Collaborative Networks 92 Primary Immunodeficiencies Network 94 Collaboration with Foreign Institutes 97 RCAI Advisory Council 99 International Programs 100 Support for Patent Applications Events 102 RCAI International Summer Program (RISP 2007) 104 RCAI-JSI International Symposium 2007 106 2nd JSI-RCAI Workshop 107 3rd JSI-RCAI Workshop 108 Guidance Session for Adjunct Graduate School Programs / RIKEN Yokohama Open Campus / Super Science High School 109 RCAI Retreat / RIKEN Science Lecture 110 In Memory of Konomi Nakamura Data and Statistics 96 Publications 100 Invited Presentations 103 RCAI Seminars 105 Budgets and Personnel \ 107 Original Photos for Cover and Front Pages iv Director’s Report his is the fourth annual report of the RIKEN Research Center for T Allergy and Immunology (RIKEN RCAI). Four years have now passed since all research groups moved from universities into the new building in RIKEN Yokohama campus in 2004. RCAI – Current status 2007 The RCAI now houses 32 independent laboratories and the demographics have changed somewhat since the last report. Eighteen percent of the principal investigators (PIs) are non-Japanese and 15% are women. Nearly half of the PIs are less than 45 years old and 20% are under 40. Since RCAI has no internal graduate program, students must be recruited from universities. Half of the PIs have appointments as adjunct professors at universities including Osaka, Tokyo Medical and Dental, Chiba, and Yokohama City. As a result of these interactions, 45 graduate students joined RCAI last year. RCAI continues to be a vibrant evolving institution and during the last three years ~ 20 percent of researchers moved in or out. The Research Coordination Office is now in its second year of operation and supports many important Center activities including assisting researchers in applications for external funding, international programs (see below), maintenance of the English RCAI webpage, and production of the Annual Report. Application for external funding is becoming especially critical since the research support from the Japanese government has been decreasing by about >5% per year. Drs. Toshitada Takekmori and Haruka Iwano are in charge of this important effort. The World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative was established by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in FY2007. Only five of these institutes were selected amongst all scientific fields and the Osaka University Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), Shizuo Akira Director, was one of them. In an exciting new development, we are initiating a collaborative research agreement with IFReC that will establish RCAI as a satellite center. Drs. Kurosaki, Saito, and Hirano will be appointed to the IFReC and will be able to have laboratories in Osaka or RIKEN or both. Several recommendations were made by RCAI advisory council (AC) during its last full meeting, and we continue to implement them. Our efforts to develop an effective vaccine for cedar pollen allergy had reached an advanced stage and the AC felt that future development to the point of clinical trials would be best managed by the private sector.