Speaker Profile
Douglas N. Ishii

Douglas N. Ishii PhD

Clinical Pharmacology
Holliston, Massachusetts, United States of America

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Mr. Douglas Ishii is currently employed at Aurogen Incorporated in the position of Founder, Board Member, and Chief Executive Officer. He was Assoc. Prof, Pharmacology at College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia Univ., New York City. He is a Professor of Physiology as well as a Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Colorado State Univ., Colorado. Dr. Ishii has served on many scientific advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International. He did his B.A. in biochemistry from the University of Calif. Berkeley. Then he completed his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Stanford University Sch. Medicine, and a postdoctoral in neurobiology from Stanford University Sch. Medicine. He is the recipient of research scientist of the Year by CSURF in 2001 and a National Research Career Development Award.

Douglas Ishii is interested in the neurobiology of the neurotrophic insulin-like growth factor (IGF) hormones, as well as their capacity to treat various neurological diseases and disorders. This laboratory discovered that IGFs are circulating neurotrophic factors. The highest levels of IGF-II gene expression are in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, and its expression in perinatal muscle correlates closely with synaptogenesis in rats. Neurite (axon or dendrite) outgrowth and the survival of neurons in culture are supported by IGFs. Following nerve crush, infusion of IGFs increases, whereas anti-IGF antibodies decrease the rate of sciatic nerve regeneration in rats. IGF-I mRNAs are increased all along the nerve distal to crush, whereas IGF-II mRNAs are increased mostly at the end of nerves and in denervated muscle. Disconnection of nerves from muscle results in motoneuron death in neonatal rats. Such motoneuron death is prevented by IGF-II, whereas exacerbated by anti-IGF antibodies. Others have shown that transgenic mice overexpressing IGF-I have brains 55% larger than normal.