is a

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. She is also a principal investigator at the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

. Her research interests include

innate immunity The innate immune system or nonspecific immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies in vertebrates (the other being the adaptive immune system). The innate immune system is an alternate defense strategy and is the dominant immune s ...

autophagy Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek language, Greek , , meaning "self-devouring" and , , meaning "hollow") is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-depe ...

inflammasome Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein complexes of the innate immune system responsible for the activation of inflammatory responses and cell death. They are formed as a result of specific cytosolic pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) sens ...

sexually transmitted infections A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...

herpes simplex virus Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) are two members of the Herpesviridae#Human herpesvirus types, human ''Herpesviridae'' family, a set of viruses that produce Viral disease, viral infections in the majority of humans. Both HSV-1 a ...

human papillomavirus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and r ...

, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection,

T cell immunity T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is de ...

commensal bacteria Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit fr ...

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, and

long COVID Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

. Iwasaki was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2018. She was the 2023–2024 president of the

American Association of Immunologists American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Biography

Iwasaki was born and raised in

Iga IGA or IgA may refer to: Businesses and organizations * IGA (supermarkets) (initially Independent Grocers Alliance), a name used by many independent supermarkets throughout the world ** IGA (Australian supermarket group), the local Australian v ...

, Japan by her father Hiroshi, a physicist, and mother Fumiko, who fought for women's rights in the workplace. She has two sisters. After high school she moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, where in 1994, she received her bachelor's degree in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. She had hopes of becoming a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

or physicist like her father. However, her interests changed after taking an

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

class. Iwasaki earned her doctoral degree in immunology from the University of Toronto in 1998. Iwasaki did her postdoctoral fellow at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

in the lab of mucosal immunologist Brian Lee Kelsall. In 2000, she started her own lab at Yale University. In 2022, Iwasaki was awarded a Sterling Professorship, the highest academic honor professors receive at Yale University.

Major contributions

While working on her PhD project of how

DNA vaccines A DNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that transfection, transfects a specific antigen-coding DNA sequence into the cells of an organism as a mechanism to induce an immune response. DNA vaccines work by injecting genetically engineered plasmid con ...

elicit an immune response, Iwasaki was among the first to show that

antigen-presenting cells An antigen-presenting cell (APC) or accessory cell is a cell that displays an antigen bound by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins on its surface; this process is known as antigen presentation. T cells may recognize these complexes u ...

were in the blood, not the muscle. At the time scientists thought muscle cells were essential for alerting the immune system of foreign proteins, or

antigens In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. An ...

, coded for by the vaccines because the DNA vaccines work best when injected into the muscle. Iwasaki's research continues to focus on understanding

and how that information is used to produce protective

adaptive immunity The adaptive immune system (AIS), also known as the acquired immune system, or specific immune system is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized cells, organs, and processes that eliminate pathogens specifically. The ac ...

. Iwasaki and her team study immune responses to influenza in the lungs and herpes simplex virus in the genital tract. Overall, the goal is to design effective

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...

or microbiocides for the prevention of transmission of viral and bacterial pathogens. Iwasaki has developed a two-stage vaccination strategy called "prime and pull" that involves a conventional vaccine as a first step and then application of chemokines to the target tissue as a second step. Based on this strategy, Iwasaki has developed a vaccine that is currently in a clinical trial to treat women with precancerous lesions in the cervix to prevent cervical cancer. Serving on Yale University's Science Strategy Committee, Iwasaki has advocated for harnessing the beneficial aspects of inflammation to "combat widespread diseases like stroke, heart disease, and diabetes". Building on her interests in immune responses to viral infection, Iwasaki has also led research into

human rhinovirus The rhinovirus (from the "nose", , romanized: "of the nose", and the ) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the genus ''Enterovirus'' in the family ''Picornaviridae''. Rhinovirus is the most common viral infectious age ...

and

Zika virus Zika virus (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family ''Flaviviridae''. It is spread by daytime-active ''Aedes'' mosquitoes, such as '' A. aegypti'' and '' A. albopictus''. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, where ...

. Iwasaki's group was notably the first to create a

mouse model A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Mod ...

of a vaginal Zika infection. Most recently, Iwasaki has delved into research looking at the immune response of

patients and sex differences in

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

infection. She is also examining the effects of

Long COVID Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

and other syndromes that occur following acute infections. According to Google Scholar, one of her publications, "Toll-like receptor control of the adaptive immune response," has been cited over 5,300 times as of August 2023 and was published in ''

Nature Immunology ''Nature Immunology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering immunology. It was established in 2000, as an expansion of the ''Nature'' family of journals. The editor-in-chief is Jamie D. K. Wilson. According to the ''Journal Cita ...

'' in October 2004. In January 2015, one of Iwasaki's studies was published in the ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

''. The study, "Temperature-dependent innate defense against the common cold virus limits viral replication at warm temperature in mouse airway cells", investigates the relationship between temperature and immune responses.

Personal life

Iwasaki is well known as an advocate for

women in science The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made substantial contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments ...

, including voicing support for affordable childcare. Additionally, she has spoken out in support of immigrants and their contributions to science. Iwasaki has gained a following on Twitter for her public health advice about

, advocating for

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

early in the pandemic. She is married to

Ruslan Medzhitov Ruslan Medzhitov (born March 12, 1966) is a professor of immunobiology and dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research focuses on the analysis of the innate immune system, i ...

, a professor of

immunobiology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of immune systems in all organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; ...

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

. They have two daughters.

Honors

* Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Sciences, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2000) *Ethel Donaghue Women's Health Program Investigator Award, Ethel Donaghue Women's Health Program (2003) * Wyeth Lederle Young Investigator Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America (2003) * Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in Pathogenesis in Infectious Diseases, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2005) *BD Biosciences Investigator Award, American Associations of Immunologist (AAI) (2011) *Eli Lilly and Company Research Award, American Society of Microbiology (2012) *Inspiring Yale award (2017) *Yale's Charles W. Bohmfalk Teaching Award (2018) *Seymour & Vivian Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon & Cytokine Research, International Cytokine and Interferon Society (2019) *Elected as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

*Appointed Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology at Yale (2022) *Lupus Insight Prize (LIP)
Lupus Research Alliance
(2022) * Else Kröner-Fresenius Prize for Medical Research (2023) *Dr. William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award (DIA)
Lupus Research Alliance
(2023) *Included in Time 2024 list of influential people in health.

Publications

* * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwasaki, Akiko 1970 births Living people Japanese academics University of Toronto alumni Yale University faculty Yale Sterling Professors Howard Hughes Medical Investigators People from Iga, Mie Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American academics of Japanese descent American scientists of Asian descent American immunologists American women biologists Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Members of the National Academy of Medicine