Greeting

Drug therapy, including antibiotics, has developed significantly on the foundation of synthetic organic chemistry. This enables the synthesis of large amounts of compounds that all have the same structure. The second half of the 1980s marked the start of the age of biopharmaceuticals such as peptides and proteins, thanks to rapid advances in cellular engineering and genetic engineering bio-technologies. The 21st century will see intensified research and development of technologies focused more on complete remedies than on symptomatic treatment.

Establishing organizations that enable multidisciplinary approaches to this new challenge is regarded as an urgent issue worldwide.

Regenerative medicine based on treatments using cells, tissues, and organs is widely regarded as an effective method of achieving radical treatments that overcome the limits of treatments using artificial organs and transplants. Tissue engineering therapies are becoming increasingly important, with research into stem cells such as embryonic stem cells, and the culture and proliferation of all sorts of cells for cell therapy and three-dimensional tissue structures. At this unique regenerative medicine center, we aim to establish and consolidate regenerative medical techniques for radical treatment in clinical settings, through collaboration with medical engineering that eschews conventional organizational silos.

Using an innovative method for controlling nanostructures, we succeeded in creating a world-leading technology for harvesting cultured cells. No enzymes are used, and cells or cell sheets are separated from the culture surface simply by changing the temperature from 37°C to 20°C, without damaging their structure or function. Layering these cell sheets, we make tissues and organs out of small quantities of cells. By establishing a new cell sheet therapy and universalizing this medical technology, we aim to form a world-leading center for regenerative medicine.