Faculty

Kotaro Sasaki, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Department: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Graduate Group Affiliations

Cell and Molecular Biology

Contact information

School of Veterinary Medicine
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Office: 2155733764
Lab: 2158986749

Email:
ksasaki@upenn.edu

Publications

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Education:
MD (Medicine)
Hokkaido University School of Medicine, 2005.
PhD (Medicine)
Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 2017.

Links
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Sasaki lab

Permanent link

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Description of Clinical Expertise

Dr. Sasaki's clinical expertise includes renal pathology and genitourinary pathology

Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Sasaki’s research is focused on the development of human germline and urogenital organs. His team’s major research accomplishment includes 1) the discovery of the nascent amnion as the origin of primate germline, 2) first reconstitution of human primordial germ cell and prospermatogonial development using pluripotent stem cells, 3) identification of the origin of human gonadal and adrenal lineage and 4) the reconstitution of human adrenal specification using pluripotent stem cells. These discoveries lay the foundation for understanding molecular basis of human infertility, reproduction an endocrinology.

Selected Publications

Cheng K, Seita Y, Whelan EC, Yokomizo R, Hwang YS, Rotolo A, Krantz ID, Ginsberg JP, Kolon TF, Lal P, Luo X, Pierorazio PM, Linn RL, Ryeom S, Sasaki K.: Defining the cellular origin of seminoma by transcriptional and epigenetic mapping to the normal human germline [PMID 38861385] Cell Rep. 43(6), Jun 2024 Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114323.

Seita, Y, Cheng, KR, McCarrey, JR, Yadu, N, Cheeseman, IH, Bagwell, A, Ross, CN, Toro, IS, Yen, LH, Vargas, S, Navara, CS, Hermann, BP, Sasaki, K: Efficient generation of marmoset primordial germ cell-like cells using induced pluripotent stem cells [PMID 36719274] elife 12: e82263, JAN 31 2023 Notes: doi: 10.7554/eLife.82263.

Hwang YS, Seita Y, Blanco MA, Sasaki K.: CRISPR loss of function screening to identify genes involved in human primordial germ cell-like cell development [PMID 38091369] PLoS Genet. 19(12): e1011080, Dec 13 2023 Notes: doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011080.

Sasaki K, Sangrithi M.: Developmental origins of mammalian spermatogonial stem cells: New perspectives on epigenetic regulation and sex chromosome function [PMID 37201564] Mol Cell Endocrinol. 573: 111949. Aug 1 2023 Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2023.111949.

Hargy J, Sasaki K.: The developmental dynamics of the human male germline [PMID 37650565] Development 150(17): dev202046. Sep 1 2023 Notes: doi: 10.1242/dev.202046.

Lin H, Cheng K, Kubota H, Lan Y, Riedel SS, Kakiuchi K, Sasaki K, Bernt KM, Bartolomei MS, Luo M, Wang PJ.: Histone methyltransferase DOT1L is essential for self-renewal of germline stem cells [PMID 35738678] Genes Dev 36: 752-763, Jun 2022 Notes: doi: 10.1101/gad.349550.122.

Ito J, Seita Y, Kojima S, Parrish NF, Sasaki K*, Sato K*.: A hominoid-specific endogenous retrovirus may have rewired the gene regulatory network shared between primordial germ cells and naïve pluripotent cells [PMID 35551519] PLoS Genet 18: e1009846, May 2022 Notes: *correspondence.

Kobayashi M, Kobayashi M, Odajima J, Shioda K, Hwang YS, Sasaki K, Chatterjee P, Kramme C, Kohman RE, Church GM, Loehr AR, Weiss RS, Jüppner H, Gell JJ, Lau CC, Shioda T.: Expanding homogeneous culture of human primordial germ cell-like cells maintaining germline features without serum or feeder layers [PMID 35148847] Stem Cell Reports 17: 507-521, Mar 2022.

Cheng K, Seita Y, Moriwaki T, Noshiro K, Sakata Y, Hwang YS, Torigoe T, Saitou M, Tsuchiya H, Iwatani C, Hosaka M, Ohkouchi T, Watari H, Umazume T, Sasaki K.: The developmental origin and the specification of the adrenal cortex in humans and cynomolgus monkeys [PMID 35442744] Sci Adv 8: eabn8485, Apr 2022.

Sakata Y, Cheng K, Mayama M, Seita Y, Detlefsen AJ, Mesaros CA, Penning TM, Shishikura K, Yang W, Auchus RJ, Strauss JF 3rd, Sasaki K.: Reconstitution of human adrenocortical specification and steroidogenesis using induced pluripotent stem cells [PMID 36413950] Dev Cell 57: 2566-2583, Nov 2022.

Okamoto I, Nakamura T, Sasaki K, Yabuta Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Nakamura SI, Ema M, Yamamoto T, Saitou M.: The X chromosome dosage compensation program during the development of cynomolgus monkeys [PMID 34793202] Science 374: eabd8887, Nov 2021.

Sasaki K*, Oguchi A, Cheng K, Murakawa Y, Okamoto I, Ohta H, Yabuta Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Yamamoto T, Seita Y, Saitou M*.: The embryonic ontogeny of the gonadal somatic cells in mice and monkeys [PMID 33951437] Cell Rep 35: 109075, May 2021 Notes: *Correspondence.

Yamashiro C, Sasaki K, Yokobayashi S, Kojima Y, Saitou M.: Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in culture [PMID 32231324] Nat Protoc 2020.

Hwang YS, Suzuki S, Seita Y, Ito J, Sakata Y, Aso H, Sato K, Hermann BP, Sasaki K.: Reconstitution of prospermatogonial specification in vitro from human induced pluripotent stem cells [PMID 33168808] Nat Commun 11: 5656, Nov 2020.

Makar K, Sasaki K.: Roadmap of germline development and in vitro gametogenesis from pluripotent stem cells [PMID 31705609] Andrology 2020.

Yamashiro, C., Sasaki, K., Yabuta, Y., Kojima, Y., Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Yokobayashi, S., Murase, Y., Ishikura, Y., Shirane, K., Sasaki, H., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M.: Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in vitro [PMID 30237246] Science 19(362): 356-360, Oct 2018.

Kojima, Y., Sasaki, K., Yokobayashi, S., Sakai, Y., Nakamura, T., Yabuta, Y., Nakaki, F., Nagaoka, S., Woltjen, K., Hotta, A., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M.: Evolutionarily distinctive transcriptional and signaling programs drive human germ cell lineage specification from pluripotent stem cells [PMID 28985527] Cell Stem Cell 21(4): 517-532.e5, Oct 2017.

Nakamura, T., Yabuta, Y., Okamoto, I., Sasaki, K., Iwatani, C., Tsuchiya, H., Saitou, M.: Single-cell transcriptome of early embryos and cultured embryonic stem cells of cynomolgus monkeys [PMID 28649393] Sci Data 4: 170067, Jun 2017.

Miyauchi, H., Ohta, H., Nagaoka, S., Nakaki, F., Sasaki, K., Hayashi, K., Yabuta, Y., Nakamura, T., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M.: Bone morphogenetic protein and retinoic acid synergistically specify female germ-cell fate in mice [PMID 28928204] Embo J 36(21): 3100-3119, Nov 2017.

Sasaki, K., Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Yabuta, Y., Iwatani, C., Tsuchiya, H., Seita, Y., Nakamura, S., Shiraki, N., Takakuwa, T., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M.: The germ cell fate of cynomolgus monkeys is specified in the nascent amnion [PMID 27720607] Dev Cell 39(2): 169-185, Oct 2016.

Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Sasaki, K., Yabuta, Y., Iwatani, C., Tsuchiya, H., Seita, Y., Nakamura, S., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M.: A developmental coordinate of pluripotency among mice, monkeys and humans [PMID 27556940] Nature 537(7618): 57-62, Sept 2016.

Sasaki, K., Yokobayashi, S., Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Yabuta, Y., Kurimoto, K., Ohta, H., Moritoki, Y., Iwatani, C., Tsuchiya, H., Nakamura, S., Sekiguchi, K., Sakuma, T., Yamamoto, T., Mori, T., Woltjen, K., Nakagawa, M., Yamamoto, T., Takahashi, K., Yamanaka, S., Saitou, M.: Robust in vitro induction of human germ cell fate from pluripotent stem cells [PMID 26189426] Cell Stem Cell 17(Aug): 178-94, 2015.

Dai, D. F., Sasaki, K., Lin, M. Y., Smith, K. D., Nicosia, R. F., Alpers, C. E., Najafian, B.: Interstitial eosinophilic aggregates in diabetic nephropathy: allergy or not? [PMID 25813275] Nephrol Dial Transplant 30(8): 1370-6, Aug 2015.

Sis, B., Bagnasco, S. M., Cornell, L. D., Randhawa, P., Haas, M., Lategan, B., Magil, A. B., Herzenberg, A. M., Gibson, I. W., Kuperman, M., Sasaki, K., Kraus, E. S.: Isolated endarteritis and kidney transplant survival: a multicenter collaborative study [PMID 25381427] J Am Soc Nephrol 26(5): 1216-27, May 2015.

Sasaki, K., Anderson, E., Shankland, S. J., Nicosia, R. F.: Diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis associated with cetuximab, an epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor [PMID 23474009] Am J Kidney Dis 61(6): 988-91, Jun 2013.