M.D., Ph.D. Professor Koichi Omori
Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery covers widespread diseases. Disorders of sensory organs (auditory, vestibular, olfactory, gustatory) and aero digestive organs (respiration, swallowing, speech) are characteristic of our specialty for communication and life-sustaining function. We are working on projects of regenerative medicine for inner ear sensory cell and ear drum using drug delivery system. For laryngotracheal regeneration, artificial trachea was developed. Since 2017, we have conducted investigator initiated clinical trial of artificial trachea for practical application. Regeneration of airway cilial cell and tissue from iPS cell is also in progress.
Research and Education
Research Group for Inner Ear
Many people are bothered by sensorineural hearing loss and equilibrium disorders, most of which are caused by inner ear damage. However, no effective treatment exists for these symptoms because inner ear never regenerates once damaged after birth. Our group aims to achieve functional regeneration of inner ears using several approaches; the application of IGF1 to sensorineural hearing loss, highly efficient induction of iPS cells into inner ear hair cells, and comprehensive gene expression analysis using single cells from inner ears1, 2).
Clustering of the comprehensive gene expression data from single developmental inner ear cells [1]
Research Group for Head and Neck
①Head and neck organs play great roles in breathing, phonation and swallowing, and thus tissue defects in these organs following trauma or cancer treatments often deteriorate QOL in patients. In order to develop novel therapeutic strategies for these conditions, we have been working on functional analysis of epithelial cilia of the upper airway3), and also on regeneration of the larynx/trachea using in situ tissue engineering techniques 4).
Mucociliary transport directions in regenerated tracheal epithelium. Planar polarities formed in epithelia regenerated on tracheal grafts are directed toward the nearby edges of collagen-implanted areas. Positional relationships of Fz6 and Vangl1, determining the polarity of ciliated cells, were according to the transport directions (the figures were modified from original ones).3)
②Because there are no reliable biomarkers for head and neck cancer in clinical practice, we are exploring novel biomarkers by investigating clinical samples and cancer cell lines.
Recent Publications
- Yamamoto R., Ohnishi H., Omori K., and Yamamoto N.: In silico analysis of inner ear development using public whole embryonic body single-cell RNA-sequencing data. Developmental biology 469: 160-171, 2021.
- Matsunaga M., Kita T., Yamamoto R., Yamamoto N., Okano T., Omori K., Sakamoto S., and Nakagawa T.: Initiation of Supporting Cell Activation for Hair Cell Regeneration in the Avian Auditory Epithelium: An Explant Culture Model. Front Cell Neurosci 14: 583994, 2020.
- Nakamura R, Katsuno T, Kishimoto Y, Kaba S, Yoshimatsu M, Kitamura M, Suehiro A, Hiwatashi N, Yamashita M, Tateya I, Omori K.: Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 2;10(1):14417.
- Yoshimatsu M, Ohnishi H, Zhao C, Hayashi Y, Kuwata F, Kaba S, Okuyama H, Kawai Y, Hiwatashi N, Kishimoto Y, Sakamoto T, Ikeya M, Omori K. In vivo regeneration of rat laryngeal cartilage with mesenchymal stem cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells via neural crest cells. Stem Cell Research. 2021 April.52.102233.
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Professor:Koichi Omori
Associate Professor:Norio Yamamoto
Senior Lecturer:Takayuki Okano, Masahiro Kikuchi, Atsushi Suehiro
Assistant Professor:Yo Kishimoto, Keigo Honda, Yosuke Tona,Yoshitaka Kawai, Chiaki Suzuki, Shintaro Fujimura, Mami Matsunaga, Ryo Suzuki, Hiroe Onishi
TEL： +81-75-751-3346
FAX： +81-75-751-7225
e-mail ：inq@ent.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
URL ：http://www.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~ent/en/