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Kyoto University Kyoto UniversityKyoto Research Activities Vol.5 No. 2 September 2015 Special Feature: Takeda-CiRA Joint Program for iPS Cell Applications and Industry-Academia Collaboration Vol . 5 No. 2 (2015) Vol. 5 No. 2 September 2015 Message from the President 1 Serving Society through Innovation and Creativity Feature 2 Takeda-CiRA Joint Program and Industry-Academia Collaboration History 8 Achievements of History Pioneer works to make products enhance quality of life. Research Frontiers 16 Cutting-Edge Research Aiming to Contribute to the Society 26 Awards & Honors International Recognition of Kyoto University’s Research 32 Author Index 33 Access and Contact Cover : The main building of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) ■▶ p.12 Message from the President Serving Society through Innovation and Creativity N recent years, Japanese universities have been strongly encouraged to connect research I results with industrial applications. Since its founding in 1897, Kyoto University has contributed to the advancement of industry and society by fostering talented human resources and pursuing innovative research to meet society’s needs. To cite one example, Dr. Sakuro Tanabe is known as one of the founders of modern Japanese iPS cell research. iPS cells are a type of stem civil engineering. In the early days of modern cell developed by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka in civil engineering, Dr. Tanabe’s Lake Biwa Canal 2006. In recognition of that accomplishment, Dr. Project constructed a new canal connecting Kyoto Yamanaka was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in City with Lake Biwa. The achievements of that Physiology or Medicine. Kyoto University’s Center project later led to the construction of Japan’s first for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) has hydroelectric power plant, and contributed to the launched many collaborative research projects revitalization of industry in Kyoto, which had with leading pharmaceutical companies in Japan fallen into a decline after the Meiji Restoration. and overseas. The university’s Graduate School Another notable example is Dr. Ichiro Sakurada, of Pharmaceutical Sciences has also established who invented Vinylon, the first Japan-made a new research center for the development of new synthetic fiber, in 1939. Vinylon greatly relieved drugs using iPS cells. the hardships caused by a lack of cotton in the This issue features reports on several of our wake of the Second World War. industry-academia collaboration projects centering Dr. Isamu Akasaki, who was awarded the 2014 on iPS cells or other areas of medicine. The Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of a articles, written by our university’s researchers blue light-emitting diode (LED), was also a Kyoto themselves, are not only interesting from a University graduate. In a commemorative lecture science and technology point of view, but are also delivered at his honorary doctorate conferment of general interest due to the wealth of new ideas ceremony in May 2015, Dr. Akasaki said “I and concepts they contain. Reading the features, remember the time when, as a new KU student, I feel proud of our scholars, and of our university’s I heard the news of Dr. Hideki Yukawa receiving tradition of academic freedom. As always, we are the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics. I vowed that I too limited by the size of this publication, and the would accomplish something unprecedented—even research covered herein represents only small a a small feat. This led me to my research on the part of Kyoto University’s activities. I hope that blue LED.” Kyoto University has a long tradition of you will find this issue interesting, and that it will valuing research based on new ideas and concepts, convey a sense of the pioneering spirit that drives and that innovative spirit has been the driving our research. force behind many new discoveries and inventions. September 2015 This distinctive academic culture is also behind Kyoto University’s dynamic engagement Juichi Yamagiwa in industry-academia collaboration relating to President, Kyoto University Research Activities 2015 1 Feature Takeda-CiRA Joint Program and Industry-Academia Collaboration 協Med-Sci CiRA collaboration with Takeda: Billions of yen for iPS cell research that is diseased or destroyed. Unfortunately, unlike other stem cells, PSCs do not exist in the adult body. PSCs can be created in the laboratory, however. The first of these were embryonic stem cells (ESCs). More than any stem cell discovered before them, ESCs have shown remarkable curative potential for various diseases and injuries. However, their use has been subject to stringent laws, as their acquisition requires the destruction of fertilized embryos, which has created controversy among the public and led to relatively severe limitations in their use for research. More recently, another PSC type, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), was reported. Unlike ESCs, iPSCs can be generated from adult cells and avoid the aforementioned ethical concerns. Equally important, they share the same fundamental properties as ESCs and are therefore expected to have the same curative potential. HE discovery of induced pluripotent stem Somewhat paradoxically, while they can be acquired cells (iPSCs) is anticipated to change medical from the body, iPSCs do not actually exist in the body. T research and treatment. Japan has invested They are created by Professor Shinya Yamanaka and heavily in this technology, beginning with the creation other researchers at Kyoto University. Prior to iPSCs, of CiRA, an institute devoted to the research and it was believed that a cell develops unidirectionally, application of iPSCs at Kyoto University. Sharing from a primitive to mature state, with no possibility of investment has been industry. The most recent example reversal. Thus, once a fertile egg differentiates into a is the comprehensive partnership between CiRA and somatic cell – for example, a skin cell – it will forever Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. announced last April. be a skin cell until it dies. Yamanaka and his team, however, showed that a cell’s fate need not be final. They Over the past decade, stem cells have captured the demonstrated that by inducing specific genes, they could imagination of the public as a potential miracle cure. reprogram a differentiated cell to the pluripotent state, Stories abound about stem cell discoveries have i.e. an iPSC. Because iPSCs are pluripotent, they can hinted at the possibility of new treatments for patients be differentiated into different cell types of the body. In suffering from debilitating diseases and injuries. Yet, other words, one can reprogram skin cells into iPSCs, stem cells have been used as treatments for decades. which can then be differentiated into any cell type of What distinguishes the recent stem cell excitement from choice – neural cells, pancreatic cells, muscle cells, etc. the past? Theoretically just about any cell type in the human body Stem cells come in many types, but the latest can be reprogrammed into any other cell type using attention is specifically about pluripotent stem cells Yamanaka’s discovery. (PSCs). PSCs emerge at the very early moments of The impact of this realization cannot be development and have the ability to self renew and exaggerated. Since the first reports by Yamanaka on differentiate into various cell types of the adult body, iPSCs from mouse fibroblasts in 2006 and human which means they have the potential to replace any cell fibroblasts in 2007, there has been an explosion in cell 2 Research Activities 2015 reprogramming science. The potential of iPSCs as medical treatments has already been demonstrated in a long list of cells and tissues. Even though it has still not been 10 years since their birth, international conferences on iPSCs are abound, with the next one happening in Kyoto in March 2016. In recognition of his discovery, Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012, only six years after the first iPSC report. Moreover, the first clinical research involving iPSC- Prof. Jun Takahashi prepares Prof. Koji Eto prepares a clinical- clinical research for the treatment of grade platelets using iPS cell. (see based cell therapy is already ongoing in Japan, as a Parkinson’s disease using iPS cells. p.16) patient suffering from age-related macular degeneration received a transplant of retinal cells derived from iPSCs The Japanese government has responded generated from her own somatic cells. The advancement unequivocally to the discovery of iPSCs, as it recognizes of cell reprogramming science has startled almost them a foundational technology on which to promote everyone in the field, including Yamanaka. “I am not only the nation’s science and technology, but also impressed with the rapid progress of iPSC research.” economic growth. Appropriately, it has supported CiRA with abundant research funding. CiRA also CiRA distinguishes itself from other research institutes in In response, Kyoto University founded the Center for Japan by the generous number of private donors that iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) in 2010 contribute money to its research. and appointed Yamanaka its director. Now in its sixth However, even these funds are not enough for year, the institute has already seen its staff more CiRA’s ultimate goal of iPSC-based cell therapies than double. The core of CiRA research is to develop when considering the cost of translating an academic iPSC technologies for medical therapies, especially for discovery into a widely used treatment, a translation intractable diseases. Over this time, CiRA researchers commonly known as the “Valley of Death” in have established methods to generate and evaluate commercialization. Consequently, CiRA has partnered clinical-grade iPSCs for quality and safety so that with industry for the study of diseases and development they can be used in humans. In the next few years, of new therapies. Current examples include work with CiRA is anticipating clinical research using iPSC- Sumitomo Dainippoin Pharma Co.

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