MURAKAMI LAB

Naoka Murakami, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis 

Naoka obtained MD and PhD in Biochemistry from University of Tokyo, Japan. She completed medical residency in Toranomon Hospital in Japan and in Mount Sinai Beth Israel, NY, then finished nephrology fellowship in BWH/MGH combined program in 2019. Her research focuses on the roles of co-stimulatory molecules (e.g. PD-1, CTLA-4) in autoimmune kidney diseases and transplant tolerance. Her clinical focus is to care for patients with cancer and kidney diseases, in an evolving field of “Transplant Onconephrology”. 

WashU Profile

Shinobu Smithson, BS

Staff Scientist

Shinobu brought her expertise in molecular and cellular biology, and experience in kidney research. She leads projects on immunotherapy-associated kidney injury using mouse models.

Tomota Okabe, MD 

Visiting Scientist

Tomota obtained MD degree in Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University in Japan. He practices as a urologist to perform kidney transplantation. He brought in his expertise in mouse heart transplant model.

Jessica Guan  

Undergraduate Student

Jessica is currently a WashU undergraduate student majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Ancient Studies and on the pre-medicine track. She has previously worked in the Jie Shen Lab in the WashU Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

Koen ter Veer, BS 

Visiting Student

Koen is a medical student at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He completed his bachelors degree in Technical Medicine at the TU Delft. Aside from contributing to lab work, he will be writing his research thesis at WashU through the Murakami lab.