Yamagata University
Yamagata, Japan
Dr. Tamil Suzuki became a medical doctor in 1984. As a graduate student, he was engaged in research on the biosynthesis of intracellular organelles, and earned his PhD in medicine. He spent three years as a post doctorate in the laboratory of Professor R. A. Spritz in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado, USA, where he participated in projects to identify the causative genes for Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome. While there, he developed an interest in the biosynthesis of melanin and melanosomes, as well as OCA.
After returning to Japan in 2001, he began conducting genetic testing for OCA while working in clinical practice, and has diagnosed more than 300 cases of OCA to date. Dr. Suzuki has been researching the pathology of congenital pigment disorders, including OCA and as well as hyperpigmented diseases, through genetic diagnostics. He has also conducted research on the genes that determine human skin color. Currently, Dr. Suzuki is conducting research on vitiligo, with chemically-induced, as well as spontaneous, vitiligo mice models. The depigmented spots seen in these mice models are extremely similar to the clinical symptoms in patients with vitiligo, making them very interesting models.