Koichi Araki
Immunologist in Rafi Ahmed's group at Emory who discovered that rapamycin improves memory killer T cells, a finding that linked mTOR to vaccine design
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University (papers to 2026) · Emory Vaccine Center, Rafi Ahmed lab (2009)
After an infection, most killer CD8 T cells die off, but a few become long-lived memory cells that guard against the same germ in future. Koichi Araki is first author of a 2009 paper from Rafi Ahmed's lab at the Emory Vaccine Center that found mTOR helps decide this fate (ARA2009). In mice infected with a virus, low doses of rapamycin, an mTOR blocker best known as a drug that suppresses the immune system, actually increased the number and quality of memory CD8 T cells. Blocking mTOR inside the T cells themselves had the same effect, and rapamycin also improved T cell memory after vaccination in monkeys. The result changed how immunologists think about mTOR: besides acting as a growth switch, it is a decision point between short-lived effector cells and long-lived memory cells.
Araki has continued at Emory's Department of Microbiology and Immunology. A 2026 study, with Araki as a co-author, tested the idea in an HIV-like vaccine model: rhesus macaques given rapamycin during booster shots of an SIV vaccine had more and better memory CD8 T cells, lower virus levels in the gut and blood after infection, and longer survival. The current job title could not be confirmed.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | A | mTOR regulates memory CD8 T-cell differentiation ARA2009 First author: showed that mTOR regulates memory CD8 T-cell differentiation and that rapamycin enhances memory responses after infection and vaccination. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Koichi Araki.
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- Rafi Ahmed Immunologist who studies T-cell and B-cell memory and showed that mTOR is a major regulator of memory CD8 T-cell formation.
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