Dr. Takeshi Saito, M.D., Ph.D., is a well-established physician-scientist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases, as well as Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology and Pathology at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. His research is dedicated to elucidating the microenvironmental niche required for the maintenance of hepatocyte fate and identity—the sole parenchymal cells of the liver—with the ultimate goal of enabling the clinical application of stem cell–derived hepatocyte transplantation therapy.

To this end, his laboratory employs a wide array of experimental platforms, including iPSC-derived human hepatocyte culture systems, uniquely configured primary human hepatocyte cultures, and humanized liver chimeric mouse models. These platforms are also leveraged to investigate the role of innate immunity and inflammation in the context of viral hepatitis (HBV and HDV) and metabolic liver diseases (alcohol-associated liver disease and MAFLD), aiming to elucidate hepatocyte-intrinsic responses to viral and metabolic insults and to translate these insights into improved preventative and therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Saito serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals and is a standing member of an NIH study section. He also serves on the AASLD Basic Research Committee and the AGA Research Awards Panel. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and a Fellow of both the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).