The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Chuo-ku, Osaka, President Christophe Weber) have begun joint research toward the clinical application of iPS cell technology.There are six target diseases such as cancer, heart failure, diabetes, and intractable muscle diseases, and it is likely that the application of iPS cell technology will attract a great deal of attention from all sides as it may overcome these diseases.

 According to Takeda Pharmaceutical, joint research includes research on neural ridge cells (*), research on muscular atrophic lateral sclerosis using iPS cells, development of regenerative medicine for type 1 diabetes and drug discovery research for type 2 diabetes, and regenerative immunity. Development of new cancer immunotherapy using cells, research on intractable muscle disease therapeutic agents using iPS cells, development of heart disease drug discovery platform using iPS cells, and application research to the development of new treatments for heart failure 6 Two projects are in progress at the same time.

 For the joint research, Takeda will provide a partnership cost of 10 billion yen over 200 years.Based at Takeda Pharmaceutical's Shonan Research Institute, a total of 60 researchers from Kyoto University's iPS Cell Research Institute and Takeda Pharmaceutical are engaged in the project.In addition, additional projects will start in April 2016 when new laboratories are ready, with a total of more than 4 researchers planning to promote more than 100 projects.

 iPS cell technology has the potential to revolutionize the future of medical care, and its applications are thought to be wide-ranging, including drug discovery research, cell therapy, and drug safety evaluation.Professor Shinya Yamanaka, director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, said, "I would like to develop a new approach to drug discovery and the creation of intractable disease treatment methods based on iPS cell technology." I would like to become a pharmaceutical company that pursues cell therapy and genetic strategies. "

(*) Neural crest cell A group of cells released from the neural crest, which is a structure that appears during embryogenesis in vertebrates, and has the ability to differentiate into various cell types such as the head skeletal system, corneal membrane, peripheral nervous system, and cutaneous pigment cells. have.

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