Daisuke Ito

Dai was born and grew up in Osaka, a city located in the center of Japan and known as a large commercial, lively and buzzing city. In 1996, he attended Hokkaido University in Sapporo, which is on the North island of Japan. Dai earned B.S. in veterinary medicine and DVM after which he moved on to the Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine at Hokkaido University, where he earned his Ph.D. In his graduate study, Dai worked on degradation mechanisms of aberrant erythroid transmembrane protein band 3 (anion exchanger 1; AE1) based on the total band 3 deficiency in cattle under the direction of Dr. Mutsumi Inaba. In 2006, Dai moved to Minnesota for postdoc work with Dr. Koho Iizuka at the University of Minnesota. Dai studied natural killer cell biology focused on the function of NK inhibitory and activating receptors. He accrued extensive experience and skills in immunology and in molecular and cellular biology from this challenging work.

Dai had training in small animal internal medicine at Hokkaido University. He saw many cases of dogs with lymphoma and became profoundly intrigued with the etiology and treatment of cancer, especially lymphoma. Dai plans to develop a career as clinician scientist at the forefront of research with a specialty in canine oncology.

Dai moved to Minnesota with his wife, Maiko, and their cat, Coco. Maiko graduated from Hokkaido University, where she earned a B.S. in veterinary medicine. At present, she is taking leave from science, working at a Japanese restaurant and volunteering at a library. Coco is a big pale gray cat with large blue eyes and striped tail and legs. He was a stray cat at birth and very weak when he was found. Now, he is very healthy and happy to live with Dai and Maiko. Dai loves to play soccer and volleyball with friends. He and Maiko are experiencing many differences in culture and life style between Japan and the USA, and they are enjoying such precious experiences in Minnesota.

Dai can be contacted by clicking here