Nao Nishida-Aoki is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, USA. Dr. Nishida-Aoki received her undergraduate degree and Ph.D. degree from Kyoto University, Japan.
Dr. Nishida-Aoki started her research training with the studies on transcriptional regulation of organic solvent tolerance and multidrug resistance in yeast under the supervision of Dr. Mitsuyoshi Ueda. In her early postdoctoral research, Dr. Nishida-Aoki made a transition to cancer field through studies of nano-sized extracellular vesicles (EVs) involves in cell-cell interactions in Dr. Takahiro Ochiya’s lab in National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Nishida-Aoki demonstrated that disrupting tumor-derived EVs can inhibit lung metastases in a mouse breast cancer model, thereby advancing a novel treatment strategy for preventing cancer metastases. Through these studies, Dr. Nishida-Aoki acquired experimental skills for animal studies and expanded my knowledge of breast cancer biology.
As a JSPS Overseas research fellowship recipient, Dr. Nishida-Aoki continued her postdoctoral training in Dr. Taran Gujral’s lab in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where she exploits ex vivo models and computational modeling-based inhibitor screening to comprehensively investigate the molecular mechanisms of cancer and normal cell interactions.
