Hiroshi Hiasa, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Contact Info
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Pharmacology
Faculty, MS and PhD Programs in Pharmacology
Research Fellow, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Kyoto University Graduate School, Kyoto, Japan
M.S. in Biophysical Chemistry, Kyoto University Graduate School, Kyoto, Japan
B.S. in Molecular Biology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Summary
Dr. Hiasa is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUGS) in Pharmacology. He received his B.S. in Molecular Biology from Kyoto University and earned his M.S. in Biophysical Chemistry and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Kyoto University Graduate School in Kyoto, Japan. He worked as a visiting research scientist at New York University Medical Center and received postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY before joining the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Expertise
DNA topoisomerases, topoisomerase-targeting antibacterial and anticancer drugs
Awards & Recognition
Minnesota Medical Foundation New Investigator Award (1998) American Cancer Society Institutional New Investigator Award (1998) Postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Japanese Junior Scientists (1990)
Professional Associations
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The Biochemical Society (U.K.) American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics American Society for Microbiology
Research
Research Summary/Interests
Dr. Hiasa’s laboratory studies the mechanisms of topoisomerases, as well as antibacterial and anticancer drugs that target topoisomerases. Topoisomerases are essential enzymes that catalyze DNA unlinking. As such, these enzymes play critical roles in almost every aspect of DNA metabolism, especially DNA replication and chromosome segregation. Their importance is underscored by the fact that these enzymes are the cellular targets of certain anticancer drugs in eukaryotes and, in prokaryotes, both DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV are the targets of the most potent broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs. Dr. Hiasa and his collaborators discovered novel quinolone-based human topoisomerase I catalytic inhibitors and are currently conducting the preclinical studies of these compounds to develop them as a new class of anticancer agents. Dr. Hiasa’s group is also involved in studies on various DNA gyrase and human topoisomerase II inhibitors.
Mechanisms of human topoisomerase I poisons (camptothecin) and our novel human topoisomerase I catalytic inhibitors (N1-biphenyl fluoroquinolone)