Educational Programs
1. Academic Degrees
The United Graduate School of Drug Discovery and Medical Information Sciences confers the following academic degrees in its two Divisions.
| Division | Degree | |
|---|---|---|
| Medicinal Sciences Division | Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Science |
| Medical Information Sciences Division | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Science | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Science |
2. Modes of Education and Research and Requirements for Program Completion
(1) Modes of Education
1) To complete a degree program in the United Graduate School of Drug Discovery and Medical Information Sciences, students are required to complete 13 or more credits of course work and pass their doctoral dissertation examination and final examination, both conducted by the United Graduate School.
| Lectures, Seminars | (Basic subjects) | Five credits in required basic subjects and 2 or more credits in elective basic subjects must be completed. (The required basic subjects include field practice. For recurrent adult students, however, field practice is elective.) |
|---|---|---|
| (Major subjects) |
Students must take required elective and required major subjects (latter: Specialized Research) taught by their main research advisor. Major subjects taught by instructors other than a studentfs main research advisor may be taken as electives. All major subjects other than those taught by a studentfs main research advisor constitute the studentfs choice of elective major subjects. |
|
| Field practice | The objective of field practice is to give students experience in direct contact with advanced research and researchers (or experts) in a corporation or research institute involved in drug discovery, and familiarize them with the most advanced research techniques and cutting-edge technology (required basic subject: field practice, 1 credit; * elective for recurrent adult students). | |
2) In Specialized Research, starting from the first year, students define the theme of their doctoral dissertation under the guidance of their research advisors and conduct research accordingly (this includes the formulation of a research/experiment plan, data collection and discussions of experiment results).
NB: Recurrent adult students may apply for an extended program in order to reconcile their studies with work. This program enables working students (or other students, under special conditions) to complete their studies in a period of time longer than that prescribed for regular United Graduate School students (three years), up to six years. To apply for this program, students must express their intention to complete their studies within a specific period of time, in accordance with a schedule. They must also have their study plan examined by the United Graduate Schoolfs competent committee and ultimately approved by the President of the University. Tuition fees for extra years of study must be paid annually, in amounts calculated by dividing the total tuition fees payable for the regular length of study (three years) by the number of supplementary years of study thus approved.
3. Courses
| Subject category | Course title | No. of credit | Applicable year and semester |
Elective/ required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Required basic subject | Topics in Drug Discovery and Medical Information sciences | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Required |
| Required basic subject | Clinical Data Mining - introduction | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Required |
| Required basic subject | Clinical Data Mining - exercises | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Required |
| Required basic subject | Social and Bioethics | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Required |
| Required basic subject | Field Practice | 1 | 1st & 2nd years, 1st & 2nd semesters | Required |
| Elective basic subject | Basic Technique 1 (cell culture) | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Basic Technique 2 (immunohistochemistry) | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Process Management | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Cellular Signal Regulation | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | New Drugs | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Microbiological Genomic Informatics | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Pharmacogenomics | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Drug Delivery Regulation | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Pharmacological Economics | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Molecular Pathology | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Medical Engineering | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Applied Sugar Chain Engineering | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Protein Functional Development Engineering | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Medical Statistics | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Clinical Trials | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Research and Intellectual Property Rights | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Life Science and Animal Protection | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Human-animal Infectious Diseases | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Life Style-related Diseases and Preventive Medicine | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Elective basic subject | Medical Information Analysis | 1 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Genetic Organic Chemistry | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Molecular Modification Chemistry | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Biotechnology for Drug Discovery | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Cellular Signal Transduction | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Mechanism of Cellular Systems | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Advanced Biomolecular Engineering | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Advanced Molecular Imaging Technology | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Bioimaging Technology for New Drug Research and Development | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Applied Molecular Pharmacology | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Molecular Neuroscience and Technology | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Molecular System Engineering for Medicine | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Advanced Bioseparation Analytical Chemistry | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Genomic Medicine and Drug Discovery | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Chemistry of Natural Resources | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Molecular Analytical Chemistry | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Image Analysis for Medicine | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Infectious Diseases Therapeutics | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Higher Bioinformatics | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Clinical Nutrition, Endocrinology and Metabolism | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Structure Based Drug Design | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Genomic Medicine and Drug Discovery | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Studies on Infectious Disease Control | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Molecular and Metabolic Control | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Radical Regulation Science | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Immunopharmacology | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Biotoxicology | 2 | 1st year, 1st semester | Elective |
| Major subject | Bioresponses and Regulation | 2 | 1st year, 2nd semester | Elective |
| Required major subject | Specialized Research - Medicinal Sciences | 2 | 1st - 3rd years, 1st & 2nd semesters | Required |
| Required major subject | Specialized Research - Medical information Sciences | 2 | 1st - 3rd years, 1st & 2nd semesters | Required |
4. Instructors in charge of Research Instruction and Research Descriptions
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicinal Sciences | Biomolecular Science |
[Gifu University] KITADE Yukio (Advanced Biomolecular Engineering) |
Conducts instruction and research based on information regarding genetic and protein structures and functions, information accumulated in vast quantities thanks to advances in genomics and structural biology relating to low-molecule regulation of functions of proteins such as enzymes and receptors and biopolymers such as nucleic acid |
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[Gifu University] KITADE Yukio (Advanced Genome-based Medicinal Chemistry) |
Conducts instruction and research centering on transition from conventional empirical medicinal chemistry to genome-based exhaustive and theoretical medicinal chemistry and relevant new developments; i.e., change triggered by human genome information analysis, which has revealed genetic causes of many diseases, including infectious diseases, cancers and lifestyle-related diseases, in turn enabling the development of compounds better focused on causes of diseases, thus drugs with greater efficacy and fewer adverse effects | ||
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[Gifu University] UENO Yoshihito (Genetic Organic Chemistry) |
Surveys DNA, RNA and organic chemical reactions required for synthesis of artificial nucleic acid with chemically restructured DNA or RNA; conducts instruction in the effective construction of artificial nucleic acid, making use of the latest knowledge in this area, as well as applications of functionally enhanced artificial nucleic acid to genetic treatment, such as antisense, antigene, ribozyme, DAN decoy, RNA aptamer and siRAN technologies, and the use of DAN chips, biosensors and other genetic diagnostics | ||
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[Gifu University] SUZUKI Masaaki (Advanced Molecular Imaging Technology) |
Conducts instruction and research concerning various technological developments intended to shorten the process of pre-clinical stage drug discovery and development; specifically, develops compounds that perform activated regulation of genes and proteins that cause various diseases, and marker compounds (molecular probes) that are bound with such compounds; lectures on innovative technological development for highly efficient, speedy and stable chemical synthesis of molecular probes; assesses and analyzes pharmacokinetics and drug efficacy using molecular probes | ||
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[Gifu University] FURUTA Kyoji (Molecular Modification in Drug Discovery) |
Lectures on basic concepts such as substituent effects, hydrophobic/hydrophilic conversion, isosteric and bioisosteric interchanges, ring equivalent conversion, conformational regulation, anymmetric conversion, pro-drug design, quantitative structure-activity relationship; and explains molecular structure construction and functional group introduction by latest organic synthesis technologies, so as to instruct in practical drug discovery and development technologies, the above in view of the fact that the process of drug discovery requires advanced molecular conversion technology based on accurate molecular design and precision organic synthesis, because drug-seeds such as bioactive natural products and potential compounds extracted from compound libraries are structurally modified and optimized on the basis of bioactive assessment, in terms of binding selectivity with target molecules, metabolism, absorption and distribution profiles, target accessibility, accumulation potential, toxicity etc. |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicinal Sciences | Biomolecular Science |
[Astellas Pharma Inc.] NISHIMURA Shintaro (Bioimaging Technology for New Drug Research & Development) |
Lectures on bioimaging technology, which is capable of whole-body examination of complex systems of live subjects and is considered a promising solution to the problem of diminishing numbers of new molecular entities (NME) in recent drug discovery and development, against the backdrop of rapid advances in genomics and other branches of molecular biology, thereby providing instruction and research aimed at the development of constituent technologies (diagnostic drugs, test design, patient model, data analysis) for pharmacokinetic, pharmaceutical and drug efficacy tests using non-clinical and clinical PET/MRI |
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[National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology] KUBO Tai (Applied Molecular Pharmacology) |
Lectures on screening, identification and characterization of biomarkers that target membrane receptors and ion channels, which take charge of cellular signal transmission and thus contribute to homeostasis and higher-order biological functions in the nervous, immune and endocrine systems etc (biomakers, used as molecular tools for diagnosis and medical treatment of lifestyle-related diseases and neurogenic disorders, are also used as molecular probes in life science and medical research); conducts instruction and research concerning functional enhancement of biomakers through application of cutting-edge technologies such as genetic engineering, nanobiotechnology and molecular structure prediction | ||
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[National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology] KIMURA Tadashi (Biotechnology for Drug Discovery) |
Lectures on search, identification and functional enrichment of bioactive materials, using various techniques such as those of genetic engineering, evolutionary engineering, functional protein expression, and electrophysiology and isolated organs; and molecular structure prediction, mainly focusing on the central nervous system in view of the fact that interaction between ligand and membrane proteins such as receptors and ion channels is a fundamental phenomenon that constitutes the basis of intercellular information transmission, especially higher brain functions, thereby conducting instruction aimed at technological development for clinical application and diagnosis | ||
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[Gifu Pharmaceutical University] TANAKA Toshiyuki (Chemistry of Natural Resources) |
Lectures on bioprospecting-oriented techniques and methods for developing natural resources of use in seeking beneficial genetic material from Naturefs rich biodiversity, by combining knowledge of botanical taxonomy, chemotaxonomy and ethnobotany; more specifically, conducts instruction and research aimed at seeking new drugs and leading compounds for drugs and the development of functional foodstuffs, separation and structure determination of secondary metabolites produced by plants and identifying the utility and functions(such as physiological activity) of those compounds, using techniques of the natural product chemistry; the above in view of the fact that, although 250,000 species of plants are believed to grow on earth and produce various compounds called secondary metabolites that can be used as ingredients, derivatives or leading compounds of drugs, those actually exploited at present represent only an extremely small fraction of the total. |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicinal Sciences | System Bioengineering |
[Gifu University] KIUCHI Kazutoshi (Molecular Neuroscience & Technology) |
Lectures on physiologically active substances responsible for neuronal functions, using latest articles in the fields of molecular biology and neuroscience as text, focusing particularly on the molecular mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases, analyzed from the standpoint of system biology |
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[Gifu University] MORITA Yoko (Cellular Signal Transduction) |
Lectures on the basic principles of intercellular and intracellular information transmission and its spatio-temporal aspects, and the elucidation by cytobiological and molecular biological techniques of the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly the mechanism of intracellular information transmission of neuron death; provides instruction aimed at developing student ability to seek neuroprotective materials that act on neuron death information transmission and to develop drugs for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, on the basis of the above knowledge | ||
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[Gifu University] YOSHIDA Satoshi (Medical Engineering and Biomolecular Systems) |
Lectures on the development of biotechnology and measuring instruments for new non/low-invasive diagnostics and the fundamental working principles of the network of live cells as a complex system, so as to contribute to the pathological diagnosis and treatment of human subjects in their engineering, cellular and molecular biological aspects; more specifically, lectures on the current status and future prospects of devepment of techniques and devices, including the analysis of changes in biomarker molecules that accompany various pathological conditions, using infrared and other spectroscopic techniques, electrochemical analysis using enzyme electrodes, and micro-separation devices; in addition, examines prospects for future development of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, through research into various molecules involved in cellular network formation and maintenance and new marker molecules relating to various diseases including lifestyle-related diseases, psychoneurosis and cancer | ||
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[Gifu University] UEDA Hiroshi (Mechanism of Cellular Systems) |
Lectures on complex cellular responses, such as differentiation, growth, death, migration and various other movements relating to them, and which systems including molecules are mobilized for them, based on the understanding that various molecules in cells form systems that constitute a more complex structure, thereby effectuating intracellular information communication relating to higher biological phenomena and enabling expression of cellular functions | ||
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[Gifu Pharmaceutical University] UNO Bunji (Molecular Analytical Chemistry) |
Lectures on precision measuring technology essential for molecular analytical chemistry for drug discovery and development, the basic concepts of functional molecular and biological analysis using such technology, and its application to drug discovery and development; explains, on the basis of measuring technology for analytical chemistry, organic electrochemistry and computational chemistry, the interaction of drug-related molecule or biomolecule electric charge transfer, molecular identification based on hydrogen bond, and the basic chemistry of biological functions, as introduction to instruction and research concerning the development of precision measuring technology for those analyses, the development of catalytic electrodes and biofunctional electrodes, and the performance and function enhancement of electrochemical sensors |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicinal Sciences | System Bioengineering |
[Gifu Pharmaceutical University] ESAKA Yuhihiro (Advanced Bioseparation Analytical Chemistry) |
Lectures on high-performance detection and analysis technologies comprised of capillary electrophoresis (CE), HPLC and its auxiliary detection systems, or complex systems such as CE/MS (mass spectrometry) and micro-liquid chromatography (micro-LC)/MS, in view of the fact that advanced precision separation and analysis technologies, such as CE, micro-LC and MS, have played a particularly important role in the recent rapid progress of genomics and the subsequent development of proteomics and metabolomics; conducts instruction and education concerning analysis of important biomolecules, particularly analysis of nucleic acid-related materials, using those technologies |
| Medical Information Sciences | Bioinformatics |
[Gifu University] KINOSADA Yasutomi (Higher Bioinformatics) |
Lectures on bioinformation management, analysis and assessment, necessary for practicing personalized medicine in a daily clinical situation, as well as on the development, construction and operation of support systems for personalized medicine, such as those that integrate and utilize clinical information stored in an electronic medical chart system (concerning pathology, drug administration, injection, treatment and other details of treatment), information on adverse effects of medicines, and patient sensitivity information, thereby enabling students to acquire information-processing techniques applicable to personalized medicine (for high-precision management of individual/patient-specific health and medical treatment information and data analysis) and practical knowledge required for practical operation of such support systems |
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[Gifu University] UCHIYAMA Yoshikazu (Image Analysis for Medicine) |
Instructs in the methodology of analyzing molecular function information obtained from MR images for qualitative assessment of lymph node metastasis of cancerous tissue, clinical assessment and application of molecular imaging using MR image formation, contrast medium functions, imaging methodology and image analysis techniques | ||
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[Gifu University] YAMAMOTO Mayumi (Clinical Nutrition, Endocrinology and Metabolism) |
Lectures on the influence of environmental factors and bioactive materials on the evolution of diseases, with reference to correlation between individual-level pathology (symptoms, test data etc.), results of epidemiological analysis (clinical trial results, group test results etc.), molecular-level pathological mechanisms and various lifestyle-related diseases (arteriosclerosis, diabetes, cancer etc.), in view of the importance of organically and effectively reflecting the theory of molecular pathology in clinical practice; in addition, the above is examined with reference to management theories of pharmaceutical economics, pharmacobusiness innovation and pharmaceutical informatics, to enable students to develop the ability to set targets for and pursue drug discovery, disease prevention and therapeutic drug development, thereby conducting instruction and education for evidence-based medicine (EBM) in a clinical setting, and evidence-based health care (EMH) in the framework of preventive medicine and health enhancement |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Information Sciences | Bioinformatics |
[Gifu University] KUWATA Kazuo (Structure-Based Drug Design) |
Conducts instruction and research concerning logical drug discovery and development, centering on structural biology and including bioinformatics and software, with concrete explanation of the development of treatment drugs for intractable diseases such as viral infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers, focusing particularly on X-ray diffraction, three-dimensional structure analysis by NMR, the basic theory of computational chemistry, bonding of proteins and drugs, pharmacokinetic analysis and clinical tests |
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[Gifu University] FUKAO Toshiyuki (Genomic Medicine and Drug Discovery) |
Conducts genomic and post-genomic research for drug discovery and development, targeting inborn metabolic errors and allergies in pediatrics, as well as diabetes, obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases; lectures on the mechanisms of genetic expression regulation, protein expression regulation and protein function expression, through not only genome analysis as relating to disease (DNA level) but also epigenetic analysis (chromatin level), transcript analysis (RNA level) and protein analysis, including three-dimensional structure analysis (protein level); also conducts instruction and research concerning pathological elucidation of diseases, corresponding drug discovery target setting and the development of molecule target drugs. Genomic drug discovery, aimed at logical research and development of new drugs demonstrating efficacy for diseases and symptoms based on human genome information, requires life science approaches and techniques, as well as molecular pathological elucidation of diseases. | ||
| Bioregulation |
[Gifu Pharmaceutical University] INAGAKI Naoki (Bioresponses and Regulation) |
Conducts instruction and research concerning characteristics of bioresponses and the current status of medicinal treatment in the case of intractable chronic diseases, mainly bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis and other allergic diseases, and lifestyle-related diseases, toward the goal of overcoming intractable chronic diseases | |
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[Gifu Pharmaceutical University] TANAKA Hiroyuki (Immunopharmacology) |
Surveys environmental factors (air pollution), genetic conditions (polymorphisms), functional molecules (transcription factors, cytokines, chemokines, lipid mediators etc.) and immune cells involved in the outset of bronchial asthma, selected from among allergic diseases, and conducts pharmacological instruction and research concerning the current status of anti-allergic drugs, the development of new drugs and treatment targets, against the backdrop of the recent increase in the number of allergic disease and autoimmune disease patients, presumably due to genetic and environmental factors, although much remains unclear |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Information Sciences | Bioregulation |
[Gifu University] WATANABE Kunitomo (Studies on Infectious Disease Control) |
Surveys infectious disease treatment in order to establish methods for regulating infectious diseases caused by bacteria normally present in mucous membrane, and other diseases believed to be caused by naturally existing bacteria. Infectious diseases caused by bacteria normally present in mucous membrane (anaerobic, slightly aerobic or facultative bacteria; fungi etc.) constitute a major challenge for todayfs aging society. Many such infectious diseases are multi-bacterial and resistant to antibacterial chemicals, and should therefore preferably be prevented; yet, treatment presently practiced for these diseases has number of problems. The double-faceted properties of in vivo actions of coliform bacillus and other such bacteria normally present in mucous membrane are well known, while it has been revealed that anaerobic and slightly aerobic bacteria on which research has not much advanced are closely related to intractable diseases in the oral cavity, digestive tract, urethra, birth canal and skin, whose causes were formerly unknown. Prevention and treatment of these diseases must be reviewed on the basis of the new findings. |
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[Gifu University] TANAKA Kaori (Studies on Infectious Disease Treatment) |
Studies the history of pharmacokinetics (PK)/ pharmacodynamics (PD) research, PK/PD analysis methods, clinical application of PK/PD theories, PK/PD-based drug discovery and development, PK/PD parameters and drug-resistant bacteria, enabling students to acquire antibacterial drug discovery and development strategies suited to the needs of the times; pharmacokinetic analysis for the assessment of efficacy and safety of antibacterial drugs has developed, along with monitoring of drug concentration in blood, to prevent adverse events associated with aminoglycoside drugs. The recent increase in drug-resistant bacteria and compromised hosts due to advances in medical care has made it extremely important to take the utmost care in determining how to scientifically use existing drugs and how to design and develop new antibacterial drugs in response to the needs of the times. PK and PD play an important role in this process. | ||
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[Gifu University] SHIMOZAWA Nobuyuki (Molecular and Metabolic Control) |
Conducts instruction and research leading to the pathological elucidation of, and the development of therapy for, in vivo metabolic abnormality, ranging from inborn metabolism errors typically found in pediatrics to metabolic syndrome and other lifestyle-related diseases, through exhaustive analysis at cellular, tissue and individual levels by genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, particularly attempting to elucidate links between pathology and the metabolism mechanism of organelles universally extant in eukaryotic cells, such as nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondrion and lysosome, so as to develop therapeutic drugs commonly applicable to several diseases, from metabolic diseases to neurodegenerative diseases; also conducts instruction and research, focusing on biological phenomena commonly found in humans, animals, plants and microorganisms, so as to bridge the gap between basic theory and clinical practice, incorporating pharmacology, applied biology and other branches of science and engineering, and analyze disease models manifested in cells and overcome metabolic diseases |
| Division | Research field |
[Affiliation] Instructor (Major subject taught) |
Instruction and research description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Information Sciences | Bioregulation |
[Gifu University] NIWA Masayuki (Biotoxicology) |
Conducts comprehensive instruction and research concerning biotoxicity of chemical substances in terms of engagement route, mechanism of toxicity expression, treatment and so forth, with focus on medicines, hormone-disrupting substances and heavy metals known to be toxic to humans. Toxic materials are not necessarily special chemicals, since humans live in a chemical environment and maintain life through interaction with many chemicals, from which humans receive benefits as well as biotoxicity, from toxic chemicals; balance is crucial in all matters, including medicines, since all chemicals are potentially biotoxic. |
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[Gifu University] NIWA Masayuki (Radical Regulation Science) |
Conducts instruction and education for drug discovery leading to the treatment and prevention of diseases, by examining causes of pathological crises in terms of in vivo free radicals and activated enzymes, and trying in vivo free radical regulation; more specifically, in view of the fact that free radical generation control is effective not only in the prevention and treatment of various diseases of organs but also in aging control; examines the role of radicals in cytopathy and the efficacy of radical-regulating drugs, using assessment systems of 1) neurocytopathy and its regulation, and 2) leukocyte activation and its regulation models, with radical generation quantity and cellular apoptosis as indices |
