Rate My Professor Ken Ishii

Ken J. Ishii is a Professor at the Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, where he leads the Division of Vaccine Science in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He also serves as Director of the International Vaccine Design Center. Ishii holds an M.D. from the School of Medicine at Yokohama City University, awarded in 1993, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Medicine at the same institution, awarded in 2003. His research focuses on vaccine science and design, with emphasis on vaccine development, regulatory science, innate immunity, adjuvants, and nucleic acid therapeutics.

Throughout his career, Ishii has held positions including Visiting Scientist and IND reviewer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Vaccine Research and Review from 1996 to 2003, Associate Professor roles at Osaka University from 2006 to 2010, Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University starting in 2010, and Director of the Center for Drug Design Research at the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition from 2015. He joined The University of Tokyo in 2019. Ishii has received several honors, including the 22nd Japanese Society for Immunology Award in 2019, the 32nd Osaka Science Prize in 2014, and the Isamu Tagaya Memorial Vaccine Research Award in 2010. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications on topics such as innate immune recognition of nucleic acids, adjuvant mechanisms, and vaccine immunogenicity, contributing to over 40,000 citations. He has also edited books including “Biological DNA Sensor: The Impact of Nucleic Acids on Diseases and Vaccinology” (2013) and “Nucleic Acids in Innate Immunity” (2008). Ishii maintains an affiliation as Guest Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University.