Masamitsu Kanada

Masamitsu Kanada, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine. His research focuses on engineering extracellular vesicles (EVs) for targeted drug/gene delivery and understanding EV-mediated intercellular communication in diseases like cancer. He holds a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Tsukuba and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Education:

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine (2012–2017)
• PhD in Cell Biology, University of Tsukuba (2003–2008)
• BSc in Biochemical Engineering, Tohoku University (1999–2003)

Research Interests: Dr. Kanada's work combines molecular biology, live-cell imaging, and drug screening to develop novel EV-based therapies. Key areas include:

• EV engineering for cancer immunotherapy
• Biomarker discovery via phosphatidylserine-exposing EVs
• 3D tumor microenvironment modeling
• CRISPR delivery using non-viral vectors

Funding: Active grant: Ultrasound-assisted extracellular vesicle engineering and induced release (EVEiR) funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (2022–2025).

Teaching: Teaches PHM 802 Cellular, Molecular and Integrated Systems Pharmacology and PHM 816 Integrative Toxicology. Courses emphasize translational applications of pharmacology and toxicology principles.

Labs/Teams: Leads interdisciplinary research integrating bioengineering, molecular biology, and clinical translation to advance EV-based diagnostics and therapies.