Takeda Announces Research Collaboration with Keio University School of Medicine and Niigata University

Osaka, Japan, April 20, 2015—Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) announced today that it has signed an agreement to undertake collaborative research with Keio University School of Medicine (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) and Niigata University (Niigata City, Niigata) at Takeda’s Shonan Research Center (Fujisawa City, Kanagawa) regarding the search for and functional analysis of disease-related RNA-binding proteins. This may lead to treatments in the areas such as CNS and oncology.

The Shonan Incubation Laboratories is a continuous initiative to invite excellent researchers from external research facilities to Takeda’s Shonan Research Center, where they work together with Takeda researchers. This collaboration focuses on disease-related RNA-binding proteins, and is scheduled to last three years, with Professor Hideyuki Okano of the Physiology Laboratory at Keio University School of Medicine directing the overall research, with Associate Professor Masato Yano from Niigata University participating as well.

The relationship between disease pathology and RNA-binding proteins has gradually become clearer in recent years, and a diseases’ onset and progression is now thought to be linked to abnormalities in RNA-binding proteins. This research collaboration will focus on the systematic and comprehensive study of RNA-binding proteins, with the aim of creating new therapeutic target candidates and game-changing technologies for drug discovery.

“We hope to produce innovative results for drug discovery through the uniting of our research on RNA-binding proteins with Takeda’s science technology platform,” said Professor Hideyuki Okano, Keio University School of Medicine.

“I am very excited to welcome Professor Okano, who is one of the world’s leading researchers engaged in RNA-binding proteins, into this important Initiative,” said Tetsuyuki Maruyama, General Manager of the Pharmaceutical Research Division. “By collaboration with both universities, Takeda hopes to create the new ground-breaking medicine that patients are waiting for.”

About Professor Hideyuki Okano of Keio University
Hideyuki Okano is a Professor, Department of Physiology, and Dean of Keio University School of Medicine. His fields of expertise include molecular neurobiology, developmental biology, and regenerative medicine. He serves as Vice President of the Japan Neuroscience Society, Board of Director of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), board member of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine, board member of the Japanese Society for Neurochemistry, and council member of the Physiological Society of Japan.

About Professor Masato Yano of Niigata University
Associate Professor Yano serves in the Division of Neurobiology and Anatomy (Second Anatomy Group) of Niigata University’s Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences. His fields of expertise include RNA biology, neurochemistry and neuroscience.

 

Contact:

Tsuyoshi Tada
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Phone：+81-3-3278-2417
E-mail: [email protected]

 

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