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Photograph of Taisuke Izumi

Taisuke Izumi Assistant Professor Biology

Degrees
B.S., Ibaraki University, Japan
M.S, Kumamoto University, Japan
PhD, Kyoto University, Japan
Research Resident, Foundation of AIDS Prevention, Japan
Visiting Fellow, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, USA

Bio
Emerging infectious diseases, including HIV and SARS, are defined as uncontrollable outbreaks of infectious diseases to break down public health. HIV is a globally epidemic virus that infects the immune cells and subsequently leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to the World Health Organization, 79.3 million people have been infected with HIV, 36.3 million people have died by AIDS-related diseases, and 37.7 million people living with HIV in 2020. Although combination antiviral therapy (cART) efficiently suppresses HIV replication below the detection limits, the risk of side effects and drug resistance remains a significant clinical problem. A functional HIV cure has not been achieved with current cART due to a persistent reservoir formation within immune cells.

A highly contagious new beta-coronavirus SARS-CoV2 infects over 100 million people and kills more than two million humans by causing acute respiratory disease, COVID-19. COVID-19 symptoms such as brain fog and chronic cough are prolonged or newly developed in some people after recovering from the acute phase of infection. These clinical observations indicate that COVID-19 becomes a chronic viral infectious disease.

Taisuke Izumi, PhD, focuses his research at American University with the aim to understand the persistence of HIV and SARS-CoV2 infections, which leads to developing an HIV functional cure strategy and treatment of long-term COVID-19 effects.

Selected Publications
Ta TM*, Malik S*, Anderson EM*, Jones AD, Perchik J, Freylikh M, Sardo L, Klase ZA, and Izumi T†: "Insights into Persistent HIV-1 Infection and Functional Cure: Novel Capabilities and Strategies." Front Microbiol. 2022 Feb 21. (corresponding author)

Sardo L, Parolin C, Yoshida T, Garzino-Demo A, and Izumi T†. "Editorial: Novel Insights Into a Functional HIV Cure." Front Microbiol. 2021 Dec 01. (corresponding author)

Sarca AD, Sardo L, Fukuda H, Matsui H, Shirakawa K, Horikawa K, Takaori-Kondo A, and Izumi T†. "FRET-Based Detection and Quantification of HIV-1 Virion Maturation." Front Microbiol. 2021 Mar 9;12:647452 (corresponding author)

Fukuda H, Li, S, Sardo L, Smith JL, Yamashita K, Sarca AD, Shirakawa K, Standley DM, Takaori-Kondo A, and Izumi T†. "Structural Determinants of the APOBEC3G N-terminal Domain for HIV-1 RNA Association." Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 2019 May 21; 9:129. (corresponding author)

Desimmie BA*, Burdick RC*, Izumi T*, Doi H, Shao W, Alvord WG, Sato K, Koyanagi Y, Sara J, Wilson E, Hill S, Maldarelli F, Hu WS, and Pathak VK. APOBEC3 "Proteins Can Copackage and Comutate HIV Genomes." Nucleic Acids Res. 2016 Sep 19;44(16):7848-65 (equal contribution)

Yoshikawa R*, Izumi T*, Nakano Y*, Yamada E, Moriwaki M, Misawa N, Ren F, Kobayashi T, Koyanagi Y, and Sato K. "Small Ruminant Lentiviral Vif Proteins Utilize Cyclophilin A, An Evolutionary and Structurally Conserved Protein, to Degrade Ovine and Caprine APOBEC3 Proteins." Microbiol Immunol. 2016 Jun;60(6):427-36 (equal contribution)

Izumi T, Mikawa T, Kondoh H, LLeonart ME, Takaori-Kondo A. "The Warburg-Like Regulation of PGAM in Tumor." Trends Cancer Res. 2014 vol.10:103-108 

Izumi T, Burdick R, Shigemi M, Plisov S, Hu WS, and Pathak VK. Mov10 and APOBEC3G "Localization to Processing Bodies is Not Required for Virion Incorporation and Antiviral Activity." J Virol. 2013 Oct;87(2):11047-11062

Izumi T, Io K, Matsui M, Shirakawa K, Shinohara M, Nagai Y, Kawahara M, Kobayashi M, Kondoh H, Misawa N, Koyanagi Y, Uchiyama T, and Takaori-Kondo A. "HIV-1 Vif Interacts with TP53 to Induce G2 Cell Cycle Arrest and Positively Regulate Viral Replication." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Nov30; 107(48): 20798-803.

Izumi T, Takaori-Kondo A, Shirakawa K, Higashitsuji H, Itoh K, Io K, Matsui M, Iwai K, Kondoh H, Sato T, Tomonaga M, Ikeda S, Akari H, Koyanagi Y, Fujita J, Uchiyama T. "MDM2 is a Novel E3 Ligase for HIV-1 Vif." Retrovirology, 2009 Jan;7;6:1

Izumi T, Shirakawa K, Takaori-Kondo A. "Cytidine Deaminases as a Weapon Against Retroviruses and a New Target for Antiviral Therapy." Mini Rev Med Chem. 2008 Mar;8(3): 231-8.

Complete list of published work in a Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=HjSIIEEAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

On-goin Research Support

1R15AI172610-01, NIAID/NIH

Research Start-Up Grant, American University


Scientific Appointments

2023-Present, Member of DC-Center for AIDS Research

2022-Present, Associate Editor for Virology Section in Frontiers in Microbiology

2021-Present, Member of Penn Center for AIDS Research

2021-Present, Member of the American Society for Virology
See Also
Google Scholar
Instagram
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Spring 2024

  • BIO-489 Biotechnology

  • BIO-496 Selected Topics:Non-Recurring: Virology

  • HNRS-050 Honors Supplement: Biotechnology

Fall 2024

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I

  • BIO-110 General Biology I