Rate My Professor Koji Hase

Koji Hase is a Professor in the Division of Biochemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy at Keio University’s Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus, the successor institution to Kyoritsu Pharmaceutical University following their 2008 merger. His primary research interests lie in mucosal immunology, intestinal microbiology, microfold (M) cells, and the interactions between gut microbiota and host immunity. Hase investigates how microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids including butyrate, regulate immune responses, epithelial barrier functions, inflammatory bowel diseases, autoimmunity, and metabolic homeostasis. His studies elucidate mechanisms controlling T cell differentiation, IgA production, oral tolerance, and the impact of diet and fasting on mucosal immunity, with implications for preventive medicine, allergies, and infections.

Hase’s distinguished career includes serving as Specially Appointed Professor at Fukushima University’s Institute of Fermentation Sciences since April 2022, Professor at Keio University since April 2014, Research Professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science from 2013 to 2014, Senior Research Scientist at RIKEN’s Research Center for Allergy and Immunology from 2004 to 2012, Assistant Professor at Kanazawa University from 2002 to 2004, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego from 2000 to 2002, and researcher at Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. from 1995 to 2000. He has earned prestigious awards such as the 2024 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher designation, 2022 MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology, 2020 Japanese Society for Immunology Award and Inoue Prize, 2019 Food Immunology Award, 2016 JSPS Prize and Bälz Prize, and 2010 Immunology Research Encouragement Award. Key publications include “Commensal microbe-derived butyrate induces the differentiation of colonic regulatory T cells” (Nature, 2013), “Treg induction by a rationally selected mixture of Clostridia strains from the human microbiota” (Nature, 2013), “Bifidobacteria can protect from enteropathogenic infection through production of acetate” (Nature, 2011), and “Maternal gut microbiota in pregnancy influences offspring metabolic phenotype in mice” (Science, 2020), which have garnered thousands of citations and shaped the field of host-microbiota crosstalk.