Hirohisa Ohno

Assistant Professor , Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University *Profile is at the time of the award.

2024Inamori Research GrantsBiology & Life sciences

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Research topics: Development of artificial RNA enabling precise gene expression control

Keyword

Summary: In recent years, artificial messenger RNA (mRNA), exemplified by RNA vaccines, has garnered significant attention. RNA, in principle, poses no risk of integration into the genome and offers advantages such as ease of design modification and synthesis tailored to target genes. However, improvements in stability and specificity are desired.
This study aims to enhance specificity and achieve high safety and efficacy by endowing RNA itself with the ability to identify target cells and express genes only in those cells, thereby developing artificial mRNA with improved specificity.

Message

I am deeply honored to have been awarded this research grant. I am determined to conduct engaging fundamental research that can also contribute to society. I look forward to striving towards this goal.

Outline of Research Achievments

We developed a new gene expression control system, termed a “split RNA switch,” by combining a microRNA-based translational regulation system with a post-translational control mechanism based on protein splicing. This system effectively suppresses undesired protein expression in non-target cells. It enables applications such as the detection and purification of target cells and target-cell-specific genome editing. The split RNA switch is expected to serve as a platform technology to improve the safety of RNA therapeutics in a wide range of applications.

Itsuki Abe, et al. (2025) Split RNA switch orchestrates pre- and post-translational control to enable cell type-specific gene expression Nature Communications 16 (5362) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60392-2

Yuanzhe Cui, et al. (2026) “More” Artificial mRNAs: Beyond the Art of Nature Advanced Science e21523 https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202521523

Hirohisa Ohno, Hirohide Saito (2024) Synthetic mRNA：Diverse engineering strategies Journal of Japanese Biochemical Society 96(6): 795-804 doi:10.14952/SEIKAGAKU.2024.960795

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