Editor Name:�Takaaki Arigam

�

Designation:�MD, PhD, Staff Physician, Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery

�

Country:�Japan

�

University:�Kagoshima University

��

BIOGRAPHY

�

He got Japanese Medical License on May, 1997. Furthermore, he received a PhD. degree on July, 2006. Then, he joined as a postdoctoral fellow of Molecular Oncology at John Wayne Cancer Institute, in Santa Monica (USA), from 2006 to 2008. He is presently working as a medical staff of Department of Surgical Oncology and Digestive Surgery, Field of Oncology, at Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences. Over the last 15 years, he has focused his scientific interests on the topics related to a molecular diagnosis and biological behaviors of lymph node micrometastasis in various gastrointestinal tract cancers. To date, our research group has applied several molecular procedures to the rapid diagnosis of lymph node micrometastasis during minimally invasive surgery in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancers, such as esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. In addition to these interests in lymph node micrometastasis, now, he has also undertaken several studies on the mechanism of the immune surveillance system in patients with malignant disease.