Junko Murai M.D., Ph.D.

Project Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Bioscience, keio University
muraij[at]ttck.keio.ac.jp
Tel: 0235-029-0581

Hello to researchers　
Greeting! I joined IAB in October 2018 after finishing  exciting postdoc life at National Institutes of Health (NIH). I have worked on the field of “DNA repair and cancer” for these 10 years, and specifically on mechanisms of action and resistance for anti-cancer drugs. Schlafen 11 (SLFN11) that means “sleep” in German is my life-work gene involved in drug sensitization and adversely in drug resistance if inactivated. I reported that SLFN11 blocks replication in cells suffering from replication stress. Replication stress can be triggered by DNA damage and activation of oncogenes such as c-MYC. Since replication stress causes genome instability, accumulation of mutations and tumorigenesis, SLFN11 will be able to inhibit these unfavorable events. Here at IAB, I have two aims; 1/ to develop SLFN11 as a predictive biomarker of DNA-damaging anti-cancer drugs in the clinic, 2/ to establish SLFN11 as a tumor suppressor gene. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in my works. Thank you!

[Chronology]
1991-1994 Mikunigaoka Public High School, Osaka
1994-2000 M.D. Osaka University, School of Medicine
2000-2003　Physician at Osaka University hospital and others
2003-2008 Ph.D. Osaka University, Graduate School of Medicine
2009-2010 Visiting Fellow at Dr. Alan D'Andrea lab., Dana Farber Cancer Institute,Boston, USA
2010-2012 Visiting Fellow at Dr. Yves Pommier lab., National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA
2012-2015 (Project) Assistant Professor at Kyoto University Medical School
2015-2018 Research Fellow at Dr. Yves Pommier lab., National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA 
2018.10- present