Yutaka Niihara
Professor
Medicine
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
United States of America
Biography
Dr. Niihara has been involved in patient care and research for sickle cell disease for most of his career, and is the principal inventor of the patented L-glutamine therapy for treatment of sickle cell disease in which he co-founded the bio-pharmaceutical company, Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. It is now in phase III clinical trial involving 32 sites throughout US with FDA Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation. Additionally, his laboratory focuses on regenerative medicine using cell sheet technology. This treatment uses autologous progenitor cell sheets to repair damaged organs such as cornea epithelium and myocardium.
Research Interest
Sickle cell disease; Regenerative medicine
Publications
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L-glutamine therapy reduces endothelial adhesion of sickle red blood cells to human umbilical vein endothelial cells. BMC Blood Disord. 2005
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Characterization of the anaemia associated with Graves' disease. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2009
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Carrier-free cultured autologous oral mucosa epithelial cell sheet (CAOMECS) for corneal epithelium reconstruction: a histological study. Ocul Surf. 2015
