KOTARO SASAKI
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New Bolton Center Kennett Square, PA
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610-444-5800
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Ryan Hospital Philadelphia, PA
Emergencies:
215-746-8911
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215-746-8387
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KOTARO SASAKI, MD, PhD

Anatomic Pathology Board Certificate (American Board of Pathology)

Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Member, Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Research Areas: Germ cell biology, Spermatogenesis, Human development, Epigenetic reprogramming, Gonadogenesis, Adrenal development, Primate embryology, Embryonic stem cells, Stem cell biology, Genitourinary Pathology
PubMed Link
Contact Information:
School of Veterinary Medicine

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.

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

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: , 2023.

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, 2022.

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, 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, 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, 2022.

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, 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, 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, 2021.

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, 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, Yokobayashi S, Kojima Y, Saitou M. Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in culture [PMID 32231324] Nat Protoc : , 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: 356-360, 2018.

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, 2017.

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: 517-532.e5, 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: 3100-3119, 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: 169-185, 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: 57-62, 2016.

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: 1370-6, 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: 1216-27, 2015.

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: 178-94, 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: 988-91, 2013.

Sasaki, K., Chang, A., Najafian, B. Indolent systemic mastocytosis associated with light chain deposition disease [PMID 26019820] Clin Kidney J 5: 424-7, 2012.

Sasaki, K., Kumar, S., Chenal, M. E., Nicosia, R. F. Intraglomerular micrometastasis of squamous cell carcinoma [PMID 25874083] Clin Kidney J 5: 292-6, 2012.

MD (Medicine) Hokkaido University School of Medicine, 2005

PhD (Medicine) Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 2017

Anatomic Pathology Board Certificate (American Board of Pathology)

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (2008 to 2011)
Anatomic Pathology

University of Washington Medical Center (2011 to 2012)
Renal Pathology