Nao Nishida

Nao Nishida serves as Assistant Professor at Waseda University's Institute for Advanced Study since 2022, following appointments at Tokyo Medical University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Her research bridges cancer biology and cell-cell communication mechanisms within tumor microenvironments.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Agriculture (2014) from Kyoto University
• Master's in Applied Life Sciences (2011) from Kyoto University
• Bachelor's in Applied Life Sciences (2009) from Kyoto University

Nishida's research centers on extracellular vesicle-mediated tumor-stroma crosstalk, with particular focus on exosome-driven metastasis, tumor-associated macrophage reprogramming, and organotypic culture modeling. She investigates how lipid composition and serine metabolism in cancer-derived EVs regulate microenvironmental remodeling and therapeutic resistance. Her work integrates advanced lipidomics, real-time tissue imaging, and spatial EV distribution analysis to uncover metastatic mechanisms.

Analysis of her 17 publications reveals dominant themes in exosome biology (71% of works), cancer microenvironment dynamics (63%), and therapeutic targeting strategies (41%). Recent work increasingly incorporates spatial tissue context (2022-2024) and clinical translation potential.

Her awards include:

• ISEV2025 New Parents Scholarship
• Japan Society for Promotion of Science Outstanding Researcher Candidate (2021)
• ISEV2017 Junior Member Scholarship
• Young Researcher Excellent Presentation Award (2015)

Nishida directs multiple active grants including JSPS KAKENHI projects on EV secretion mechanisms (2023-2026) and nutritional stress adaptation (2025-2028), plus Mitsubishi Foundation and Uehara Memorial Foundation awards. She mentors through Waseda's bioscience curriculum while developing organotypic slice platforms for drug screening.

Her laboratory utilizes advanced tumor slice culture systems and spatial EV mapping techniques to dissect microenvironmental heterogeneity, with current work focusing on stromal contribution to therapeutic resistance and organ-specific metastatic niches.