Looking for something?
Ken Yamada, Ph.D.
RTI, UMass Chan Medical School
“Extended Nucleic Acid (exNA): A Novel Platform Technology Development for Enhancing siRNA Potency in Vivo”
Paper of the Year: Enhancing siRNA efficacy in vivo with extended nucleic acid backbones
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02336-7
Biography:
Dr. Ken Yamada is an Assistant Professor at the RNA Therapeutics Institute (RTI), UMass Chan Medical School (2021–present), where he develops novel chemistry platforms to enable oligonucleotide therapeutics in challenging extra-hepatic tissues. He earned his BS, MS, and PhD (2011) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (now the Institute of Science Tokyo), Japan. His interest in nucleic acid chemistry began during his PhD research in Prof. Mitsuo Sekine’s lab, where he trained as a nucleic acid and oligonucleotide chemist. After completing his PhD, Dr. Yamada conducted postdoctoral research in Prof. Masad Damha’s lab at McGill University (2012–2014), followed by a faculty position in Prof. Fumi Nagatsugi’s lab at Tohoku University (2014–2017). He later joined Prof. Anastasia Khvorova’s lab at UMass to further advance siRNA therapeutics through innovative chemistry strategies. This transformative period at RTI had a lasting impact on his academic career. At RTI “Powerhouse” with a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment, Dr. Yamada, with his wonderful colleagues, has developed several pioneering chemistry platforms that substantially improve the PK/PD of cutting-edge siRNA technologies. Most notably, he invented extended nucleic acid (exNA), which is applied as one of the chemical modifications in the lead siRNA and will be evaluated in an upcoming Phase I clinical trial for CNS disorders. In 2025, exNA phosphoramidites will also be commercially available to accelerate enhanced RNA stability in various contexts of RNA therapeutics development. His work has resulted in multiple patents, several of which have been licensed by leading biotech companies.
