Greeting

Regenerative medicine is one of the most important fields for medical science in the 21st century. There are a number of problems with current organ transplantation therapies, including the shortage of internal organ donors and rejection due to the immune response. Similarly there are many problems with artificial organ treatments, such as the formation of blood clots and restricted function. Around the world, regenerative medicine is regarded as a means of overcoming these problems and opening up the possibility of new treatments.

At TWMU, researchers in all clinical fields including cardiovascular surgery, gastroenterological surgery, ophthalmology, urology, and dermatology are working closely with researchers in science and engineering fields on cell sheet engineering, a key technology developed at TWMU. They have conducted research energetically into regenerative medicine with the aim of finding clinical applications for the treatment of all organs. Cell sheet engineering is already being used in clinical treatment of the cornea, skin and so on, and we are now establishing a joint academic-industrial framework aimed at achieving practical applications in conventional regenerative medicine. Looking to the future, we will undertake joint research with medical and research institutions both within and outside the university to develop clinical applications for regenerative medicine and to establish related industries. At the same time, we will work to train many more people who will serve in a range of clinical settings to contribute to improving the health and quality of life of people around the world. 。

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.