Message

Connect and Expand: Collaboration between Business and Academia

The following is a message from the producer of this program, which explains the vision on the development of glocal (global and regional) health communities, coexisiting and harmonizing natural ecosystem with human health.

Researchers' community enables to achieve lofty visions

In this program, we strive to not simply have researchers who perform research based on individuals' own interests, but who come together in a community to achieve the lofty visions on the development of health societies. We assign project management staff members, composed of young and active researchers and administrators, which is rare for a university, to efficiently achieve our goals by sharing real-time progress on achievements and deadlines. Further, we encourage the launching of university-born venture businesses to bring our research results to fruition at early stages (which help in developing practical applications). We provide appropriate personnel deployment and training to help young researchers and others involved in the project to realize their own potentials and prospects. We continue our work in Kumamoto, a land of history, in effectively using the world's medicinal resources to contribute to the development of healthy societies.

Masahiko Kikuchi
Masahiko Kikuchi
Executive Producer
Kumamoto University Visiting Professor, Frontier Pharmaceutical Professor

Using the university's strengths to build an international network of cooperation

The most common style of drug discovery research nowadays is synthesizing a compound and proving its therapeutic effects on human diseases. The focus of this program, however, is natural compounds. In local areas around the world, useful natural products are being used for treatment based on traditional knowledge. Testing the efficacy and analyzing the content of these natural resources has been well performed until a few decades ago. These results, however, were obtained by old-fashioned research methods, not by advanced and sophisticated techniques. So that it is quite important to develop new ideas based on learning from the past, i.e., to develop new drugs based on the previously well-studied natural compounds. We will focus on these natural resources from the perspective of modern science together with associated countries, and provide necessary education, which contributes to world health.

Hirofumi Kai
Hirofumi Kai
Executive Vice Producer
Kumamoto University Faculty of Life Sciences (Pharmaceutical sciences group), School of Pharmacy
Professor/Dean