Dr Samuel JK Abraham: Brief Profile
Location: Yamanashi-ken, Japan
Profession: Clinician Scientist
Discipline: Medicine
Specialization: Cardiac Surgery; Regenerative Medicine
• Completed primary medical degree in Tirunelveli Medical College Affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University, India, in 1992. After a year in Pediatric surgery training, joined Yamanashi Medical University, Japan in April 1994. Finished post-graduate training in Cardiac surgery in 1999 and got PhD. Since then, with the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Yamanashi University-Faculty of Medicine, Japan till date.
• Lecturer, Centre for advancing clinical research, Yamanashi University; 2012~ till date
• Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, London (FRCP-L)
• Fellow, Indian Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (FIACTS)
• Started research in stem cells under the Nichi-In consortium, Tokyo, Japan in 2000
• Head, R&D, Co-Founder & Director, GN Corporation Co Ltd., Kofu, Japan.(www.gncorporation.com)-2002 Till Date
• Founder & Director, Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), India; 2005~ till date
(Admin Office: Chennai, India; R & D Lab: @ SoulSynergy, Mauritius) – www.ncrm.org
• Distinguished Visiting Professor Award by the University of Toronto, CIHR TPRM 2012 & 2018.
• Adjunct Faculty, INDICASAT, Panama, April 2012
• Visiting Professor, Tamilnadu Dr MGR Medical University, India (2010-2015)
• Member, Scientific Board, International Stem Cell Academy (www.stemcell-academy.com/scientific-board/)
Accomplishments :
1. Tech-transfer of cell based therapies for male urethral stricture from India to Japan
2. Immune cell therapies (AIET) – Tech-transfer from Japan to Vietnam, Malaysia and Mauritius
3. World’s first ‘An eye for Eyes’ project to clinic; Help solve global donor corneal shortage
4. Unraveling the potential of a novel beta-glucan as a drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD); US-FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) & Rare Pediatric Drug Designation (RPD)
5. A pioneering feat in cell therapy unravelling the mechanisms of regeneration through paracrine effect combined with cell engraftment yielding restoration of urothelial integrity in clinical settings.
Publications :
1. Regenerative Medicine Immunology & Nutritional sciences: Click here
2. Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery. Click here
Interests :
1. Translation of bench-side technologies for in vitro cell culture and tissue engineering using nanomaterials and polymers to the bed-side
2. Studying the complexity of physico-chemical-biological interactions by way of reproducing in vitro biomimicking systems with nanomaterials and environments
3. Reversal of senescence, healthy aging in vitro & in vivo through varying physico-chemical-biological environments including zero-gravity of the outer space
4. Development and evolution of immune system, poly-extremo tolerance and adaptability across the ladder of phylogeny
• Gut microbiome, immune balancing & immunomodulation, pre-biotics
• Gut microbiome, immune systems, pre-biotics and metabolic syndrome
• Gut-brain axis, misfolding of alpha-synuclein, and their implications on neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases
Projects pursued:
Corneal limbal stem cells, endothelial progenitors, (cesbank.org; eyecore.org)
- Hybrid Artificial Corneal Prosthesis (hybridcornea.org)
- Hepatic progenitors for drug toxicology screening, Natural killer cell based immunotherapy for cancer; viral infections, (www.immunotreatment.org)
- Human monoclonal antibodies for cancer,
- Cell based therapies for anti-aging,
- In vitro expansion of human hematopoietic stem cells,
- Tissue engineering of human chondrocytes(www.eels-talc.org),
- Nanomaterial based scaffolds for cell culture and tissue engineering,
- Dental stem cells & their applications in regenerative medicine,
- Autologous buccal mucosal cell based therapies for male urethral stricture (www.beeshaus.org),
- Novel yeast strain produced poly-saccharides for human health and aging (www.nichiglucan.com)
Patents (applied/granted):
- A method for cultivating cells derived from corneal limbal tissue.
- Corneal endothelial precursor cell transplantation methodology employing a Nanocomposite gel sheet.
- A novel method of cryopreservation of various types of cells
- Influenza neutralizing antibody and method for screening the same
- Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold-Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES-HAUS)
- Enhancement of cells and increased NO production in microgravity
- Immune system enhancement and modulation in tackling viral infections and carcinogenesis
- Molecules of significance in curtailing organ fibrosis
- Method of beneficial reconstitution of Gut microbiome in tackling neurological illnesses
- Method to activate endogenous melatonin in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Blogs :
Nature Biotech Blog | Nature Bioengineering Community
Other Websites :
http://www.chennaicellcluster.org