About
Dr. Komatsu is a senior scientist in the Johns Hopkins All Children's Department of Surgery and the Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. He also has a secondary affiliation with the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research. He is an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
He earned an undergraduate degree in marine science/biology and a Ph.D. in cell biology at the University of Miami, where he also did post-doctoral training in immunology. He continued post-doctoral studies under Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
Dr. Komatsu became an assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pathology while maintaining an adjunct position with Sanford Burnham. He joined Sanford Burnham full time in 2008 before coming to Johns Hopkins All Children’s in 2018. He holds patents related to the R-RAS protein and peptide-mediated vascular targeting of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Post-doctoral opportunity
A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Masanobu Komatsu, Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine/All Children’s Hospital to study the tumor immune environment. High endothelial venules (HEV) are blood vessels specialized for recruiting naïve T cells and B cells. They serve a role as the gateways for lymphocyte entry into tumors and facilitate anti-tumor immune response.
Candidates with a relevant training background in immunology or vascular biology should apply. Interested applicants should submit a single PDF file containing CV and a brief description of research interests and accomplishments to Dr. Masanobu Komatsu at [email protected]
Education
- B.S., Biology and Marine Science, Minor: Mathematics, University of Miami, Miami, 1991
- Ph.D., Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami. Mentor: Kermit L. Carraway, Professor. Thesis topic: Multifunctional activities and contributions of sialomucin complex/MUC4 to tumor metastasis. 1998
- Postdoc Associate, Dept. of Cell Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami. Mentor: Kermit L. Carraway, Professor. Research topic: Multifunctional activities and contributions of sialomucin complex/MUC4 to tumor metastasis. 1998
- Postdoc Associate, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami. Mentor: Robert B. Levy, Professor. Research topic: Cytotoxic pathways of the host resistance to hematopoietic stem cell allograft. 1999 to 2000
- Postdoc Associate, The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, California. Mentor: Erkki Ruoslahti, Distinguished Professor. Research topic: Physiological and pathological roles of small GTPase R-Ras in vascular remodeling and regeneration. 2001 to 2004
Department and Institute Affiliations
- Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
- Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
Honors and Awards
- Article selected by the Faculty of 1000. Peptide-Directed Highly Selective Targeting of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Am J Pathol., 2011
- Article selected by the Faculty of 1000. R-Ras is a global regulator of vascular regeneration that suppresses intimal hyperplasia and tumor angiogenesis. Nat Med, 2005
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, NIH 5 T32 CA 09579, 2001-2002
- Winner, Sylvester Cancer Center Research Competition, 2000
- Third place, Sylvester Cancer Center Research Competition, 1999
- Winner, Sylvester Cancer Center Research Competition, University of Miami, 1998
- Top 10 most popular science news release of 2017
- Altmetric Score 98th percentile of all the tracked articles of a similar age in all journals and featured in 21 public news outlets. R-Ras-Akt axis induces endothelial lumenogenesis and regulates the patency of regenerating vasculature. Nature Communications, 2017
- Article selected by the Faculty of 1000. Peptide-Directed Highly Selective Targeting of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. American Journal of Pathology, 2011
- Article selected by the Faculty of 1000. R-Ras is a global regulator of vascular regeneration that suppresses intimal hyperplasia and tumor angiogenesis. Nature Medicine, 2005
- 2001-2002 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, National Institute of Health
Memberships
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Association of Immunologists
- American Heart Association
- North American Vascular Biology Organization
- American Thoracic Society
Patents
- R-Ras activity in vascular regulation, U.S. Patent No. US8506965 B2
- Compositions containing a pharmacophore with selectivity to diseased tissue and methods of making same, U.S. Patent No. US20190022170A1
- CAR Peptide for Homing, Diagnosis & Targeted Therapy for Pulmonary and Fibrotic Disorders, U.S. Patent No. US9180161 B2
