MEMBERS

Chihiro, Motozono

Associate Professor

本園 千尋

Chihiro Motozono, Ph.D.

Associate Professor (PI) of Division of Division of infection and immunity, Joint research center for Human Retrovirus infection, Kumamoto University

Present address

Division of infection and immunity, Joint research center for Human Retrovirus infection, Kumamoto University, 2-2-1 Honjo, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-0811 Japan
Tel: +81-96-373-6225
E-mail address: motozono(at)kumamoto-u.ac.jp

EDUCATION/TRAINING

  • 03/2004 Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan B.S. Biochemistry
  • 03/2006 Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan M.S. Medical Sciences
  • 03/2010 Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan Ph.D. Viral immunology
  • 09/2010 Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan Postdoctoral Viral Immunology
  • 06/2012 Cardiff University, Wales, UK Postdoctoral Immunology

Position and Employment

  • 2012-2016: Assistant professor, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
  • 2016-2017: Assistant professor, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
  • 2017-2020: Assistant professor, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
  • 2020-2022: Lecturer, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
  • 2023-　　: Associate Professor, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Honors

  • 2026: Kumamoto Medical Society Encouragement Award
  • 2023: ECC Yamaguchi Memorial AIDS Research Encouragement Award of the Japanese Society for AIDS Research
  • 2023: Best paper award in Joint research center for Human Retrovirus infection, Kumamoto University, 2022, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 2022: Best Research award in Kumamoto University, 2022, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 2022: Best paper award in Joint research center for Human Retrovirus infection, Kumamoto University, 2021, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 2021: Best presentation award, 30th Japan cytometry Society annual meeting, Japan
  • 2018: Best presentation award, 47th Japanese Society for Immunology annual meeting, Japan
  • 2010: Wellcome Trust Value in People Fellowship Award (Cardiff University, UK)
  • 2010: Keystone Symposia Scholarship, The Keystone Symposia on HIV Vaccines (X5)
  • 2009: Melchers Travel Award, The 39th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Immunology

Selected peer-reviewed publications

  1. Nakama, T#., Wall, A#., Dolton G#., Tan, LR., Thomas, H., Hamana, H., Aritsu, Y., Tan, TS., Toyoda, M., Goto, Y., Li, H., Kitamatsu, K., Udaka, K., Miyashita, Y., Oshiumi, H., Nakamura, K., Nagasaki, Y., Minami, R., Nakata, .H, Rizkallah, PJ., Kishi, H., Ueno, T., Sewell, AK*., Motozono, C*. Position-5-Driven Reorientation of the Immunodominant HLA-A*24:02 SARS-CoV-2 Epitope Underlies Universal T-cell Escape. JCI Insight, In press,
  2. Aritsu, Y., Kitabatake, M., Kurose, A., Hamana, H., Nakama, T., Yamada, K., Furukawa, R., Ouji-Sageshima, N., Hara, A., Yasuike, K., Itami, S., Li, H., Udaka, K., Kishi, H., Ueno, T., Nakagawa, S., Ito, T., Kawashita, N., Kitamatsu, M., Motozono, C*. N-terminal pyroglutamylation of an HLA-A24-restricted immunodominant epitope enhances SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses, Frontiers in Immunology, In press, 2026.
  3. Goto, Y#., Dolton, G#., Thomas, H., Morin, T., Tajima, Y., Imamura, K, Sakata, S., Oka, K., Hayashi, A., Takahashi, M., Ueno, T., Sakagami, T., Tomita, Y*., Sewell, AK*, and Motozono, C*. A probiotic bacterium modulates antitumor γδ T-cell responses in lung cancer. Frontiers in Immunology, In press, 2026.
  4. Goto, Y., Ahn, YM., Toyoda, M., Hamana, H., Jin, Y., Aritsu, Y., Nakama, T., Tajima, Y., Maddumage, JC., Li, H., Kitamatsu, M., Kishi, H., Yonekawa, A., Jayasinghe, D., Shimono, N., Nagasaki, Y., Minami, R., Toya, T., Sekiya, N., Tomita, Y., Chatzileontiadou, DSM., Nakata, H., Nakagawa, S., Sakagami, T., Ueno, T., Gras, S*., Motozono, C*. Molecular basis of potent antiviral HLA-C-restricted CD8+ T cell response to an immunodominant SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid epitope. Nature Communications, 16(1):8062, 2025.
  5. Motozono, C*., Toyoda, M., Tan, TS., Hamana, H., Aritsu, Y., Miyashita, Y., Oshiumi, H., Nakamura, K., Okada, S., Udaka, K., Kitamatsu, M., Kishi, H., Ueno, T*. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 spike G446S mutation potentiates antiviral T cell recognition.
    Nature Communications 13(1):5440, 2022. *Corresponding equally
  6. Shibata, K, Motozono, C., Nagae M., Shimizu, T., Ishikawa, E., Motooka, D., Okuzaki, D., Izumi Y., Takahashi, M., Fujimori N., Wing JB., Hayano, T., Asai Y., Bamba, T., Ogawa Y., Furutani-Seiki M., Shirai M., Yamasaki S. Symbiotic bacteria-dependent expansion of MR1-reactive T cells causes autoimmunity in the absence of Bcl11b in lymphocytes. Nature Communications, 13(1):6948, 2022.
  7. Motozono, C., Toyoda., M, Zahradnik, J., Saito, A., Nasser, H., Tan, TS., Ngare, I., Kimura, I., Uriu, K., Kosugi, Y., Yue, Y, Shimizu., R, Ito, J., Torii, S., Yonekawa, A., Shimono, N., Nagasaki, Y., Minami, R., Toya, T., Sekiya, N., Fukuhara, T., Matsuura, Y., Schreiber, G., Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium, Ikeda, T*., Nakagawa, S*., Ueno, T*., Sato, K*. SARS-CoV-2 spike L452R variant evades cellular immunity and increases infectivity. Cell Host & Microbe 29(7):1124-1136.e11., 2021. *Corresponding equally
  8. Takano, T., Motozono, C*., Imai, T., Sonoda, KH., Nakanishi, Y., Yamasaki, S*.
    Dectin-1 intracellular domain determines species-specific ligand spectrum by modulating receptor sensitivity. J. Biol. Chem. 292(41):16933-16941, 2017. *Corresponding equally
  9. Motozono, C#., Pearson, JA#., De Leenheer, E., Rizkallah, PJ., Beck, K., Trimby, A., Sewell, AK., Wong, FS., Cole, DK. Distortion of the Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Binding Groove to Accommodate an Insulin-derived 10-Mer Peptide. J. Biol. Chem. 290(31): 18924-18933, 2015. #Contributed equally
  10. Motozono, C., Bridgeman, JS., Price, DA., Sewell, AK., Ueno, T. Clonotypically similar hybrid αβ T cell receptors can exhibit markedly different surface expression, antigen specificity and cross-reactivity. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 180(3): 560-570, 2014.
  11. Motozono, C#, Kuse, N#., Sun, X., Rizkallah, PJ., Fuller, A., Oka, S., Cole, DK., Sewell, AK., Takiguchi, M. Molecular basis of a dominant T cell response to an HIV reverse transcriptase 8-mer epitope presented by the protective allele HLA-B*51:01. J. Immunol. 192(7): 3428-3434, 2014. #Contributed equally
  12. Motozono, C., Yokoyama, M., Sato, H., Ueno, T. Cross-reactivity analysis of T cell receptors specific for overlapping HIV-1 Nef epitopes of different lengths. Microbes. Infect. 16(4): 320-327, 2014.
  13. Motozono, C., Miles, JJ., Hasan, Z., Gatanaga, H., Meribe, SC., Price, DA., Oka, S., Sewell, AK., Ueno, T. CD8(+) T cell cross-reactivity profiles and HIV-1 immune escape towards an HLA-B35-restricted immunodominant Nef epitope. PLoS One. 8(6): e66152, 2013.
  14. Motozono, C., Yanaka, S., Tsumoto, K., Takiguchi, M., Ueno, T. Impact of intrinsic cooperative thermodynamics of peptide-MHC complexes on antiviral activity of HIV-specific CTL. J. Immunol. 182(9): 5528-5536, 2009.