Now, as the figures compiled by the IMSUT Hospital Director Yotsuyanagi, Dr. Tsutsumi, Dr. Koga and the infection control team show, our hospital has been continuously accepting COVID-19 patients since the pandemic started in early 2020.
This proves that IMSUT Hospital has greatly contributed both to local medical care and to nationwide initiatives including the development of prevention and treatment options for COVID-19. Thus, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the IMSUT COVID-19 Task Force and IMSUT Hospital staff at all levels, including Hospital Director Yotsuyanagi, Laboratory Medicine Director Nagamura, Nursing Director Yoshii, Pharmacy Director Kuroda, General Manager. Matsui, Dr. Tsutsumi, Dr. Koga, Dr. Adachi, and Dr. Saito. And of course, I must thank all other members of IMSUT for their cooperation in the various activity restrictions required for us to be able to receive the patients on our campus, which is not so large.
Fortunately, from October to December 2021, the number of patients admitted to IMSUT Hospital was close to zero for the first time in almost two years. This must have helped to relieve the stress of the hospital staff and enabled them to spend some relaxed time during the New Year’s holiday. Still, even had the sixth wave not arrived, I would sincerely ask all members for continued cooperation to prevent the spread of infection, especially wearing masks, ensuring social distancing, appropriate ventilation, washing hands and fingers, avoiding meetings over meals and drinks, and keeping activity records in case of infection.
IMSUT is, of course, NOT an organization which solely focuses on preventing the spread of infection on the campus and providing medical treatment for patients with COVID-19 at the hospital. As you can see from our website, IMSUT has issued 25 press releases on COVID-19 control measures alone. Last year, UTokyo Compass was formulated and announced by President Fujii as the guiding principles showing the direction our university should take. One of its action plans is “Strengthen and develop research hubs to tackle societal issues” which is contained as Plan 2 in Perspective 1-3 “Generate Excellent Academic Knowledge” of UTokyo Compass. Plan 2 specifies the establishment of new research hubs in the areas of infectious disease control and vaccine development, where IMSUT is expected to make further contributions. I would like all IMSUT members involved in research on infectious diseases and vaccines to strive towards achieving their goals.
I come now to a pleasant subject more suitable for the New Year, the personnel affairs which will support the future of IMSUT. Regarding Faculty personnel, IMSUT welcomed Prof. Emi Nishimura, one of the world leaders in stem cell research, from Tokyo Medical and Dental University to the Department of Cancer Biology. I believe that her activities in IMSUT will be a new driving force for research on aging medicine including neoplastic diseases, which is one of our core projects. At IMSUT Hospital, Dr. Yasuhito Nannya from Kyoto University joined the Department of Hematology/Oncology as professor. Likewise, the Department of Oncology and General Medicine welcomed Dr. Narikazu Boku from the National Cancer Center Japan as professor. Since his time as a member of the Cancer Center, Dr. Boku has been working closely with Dr. Shida who is in charge of IMSUT surgery. So, it can be said that the platform to enhance current cancer treatments, which integrates internal medicine and surgery, has been formed at IMSUT Hospital based on tight collaborations of physicians and surgeons including Drs. Todo, Shida, Nannya and Boku. I hope that Professors Nishimura, Nannya, and Boku will fully demonstrate their abilities across a wide range of fields, including basic, translational, and clinical research.
At the Social Cooperation Research Programs that address the urgent and important issues we are currently facing, Dr. Toru Suzuki joined us from the University of Leicester. Project Professor Suzuki, known as one of the world leaders in genomic research, is now conducting new research related to the healthcare field. In addition, Dr. Satoshi Takahashi was promoted to Project Professor. He is responsible for leading genomic research related to transplantation medicine at IMSUT Hospital. I hope that both professors will play active roles as new driving forces for genomic research, which is a core project of IMSUT.
I would also like to mention newly joined associate professors. As part of the functional enhancement of IMSUT Hospital including cancer treatment, the Hospital acquired Dr. Akai into its Department of Radiology and Dr. Konuma into the Advanced Clinical Research Center. Also, Dr. Matsuo, Dr. Katayama, Dr. Tanimizu, and Dr. Nanba joined IMSUT with the aim of research functional enhancement in the fields of RNA science, genome science, stem cell biology, and aging medicine, respectively. Even though it was for a short time, Dr. Yoshikawa also worked with us as Project Associate Professor and provided outpatient and inpatient care for immune disorders and allergic diseases. Meanwhile, the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine welcomed Dr. Kobayashi as Project Associate Professor, who is now undertaking development research on cell and organ therapeutics. Through such acquisition of skilled scientific personnel, you can see IMSUT’s comprehensive capabilities of basic, translational, and clinical research are steadily improving.
On the other hand, in a huge loss to us, Prof. Kawaoka, Prof. Tojo, and Prof. Tanaka, who all are leading investigators in infectious disease research, hematology/oncology research, and research on immune disorders and allergic diseases, retired due to the mandatory retirement policy. Prof. Kawaoka went on to become a Project Professor at IMSUT and is now conducting research activities at the forefront of current pandemic countermeasures. Prof. Tojo is playing a key role in research collaboration and university operation as the Vice President of Tokyo Medical and Dental University*. Prof. Tanaka is advancing his research as a special guest professor at Keio University. I very much hope that we will receive further advice from the three, gracing us with their broad perspectives on various research including infectious disease studies, clinical medicine, and the operational management of IMSUT.
* As of January 2021
Likewise, many other associate professors and project faculty members have been transferred out of IMSUT upon promotion or to launch new laboratories. This is another loss to us but serves as proof that IMSUT is contributing to the improvement of research capabilities in Japan and the world. I wish them every success for the future.
Now, let us look at the number of English peer-reviewed papers, which is one of the indicators of research performance. Since FY2016, IMSUT has continuously presented approximately 500 reviewed papers every year. The percentage of articles published in journals with an impact factor of 10 or above has remained high at around 15%, reaching a six-year high in FY2020. The number of papers published per faculty member is again on the rise as well. These results have been achieved through the tireless efforts of all IMSUT members, including the staff of IMSUT Hospital and the Administration Office. IMSUT will continue to focus on improving its research capabilities together with the newly joined members.
As for the income from external sources, which is another indicator of research performance, a different trend is observed when comparing to that up to FY 2019. There has been an increase in the amount of acquisition, yet a decrease in the number of acquisitions. That is, the size of each budget, especially that of contract research funds is expanding. Such a change is a welcome tendency overall, and I deeply appreciate all your hard work and effort. Still, it is necessary to pay close attention to this trend affecting our continued engagement in basic research which will boost the future of IMSUT. With this in mind, I shall promote “a balanced development of basic, translational, and clinical research” as promised in my inauguration speech.
Here, special mention is needed for the numerous official awards received by IMSUT members for their achievements. The 2021 Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology were given to three IMSUT members: Prof. Shibuya and Prof. Nishimura received the Awards for Science and Technology, and Senior Technical Specialist Hata received the Outstanding Support for Research Award. The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon was awarded to Emeritus Prof. Sasakawa, while Dr. Kawaguchi received the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Award for Medical Sciences. Emeritus Prof. Nakamura was designated a Person of Cultural Merit. MARCO (MAss gathering Risk COntrol and Communication) headed by Dr. Imoto, a volunteer research group for risk control and communication in large-scale gatherings, received the 2021 Good Practice Award from the Society for Risk Analysis, Japan. The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays was awarded to Ms. Toriuchi, the former Chief Technician in the Department of Laboratory Medicine. Particularly noteworthy is that Dr. Sato became the first winner of the IMSUT Outstanding Young Investigator Award, which was established in FY2020 with the efforts of Vice Dean Furukawa. Dr. Sato is now working on further studies including research on the novel coronavirus. All their achievements mentioned here are truly outstanding and I am very proud of them.
So far, I have talked about our faculty affairs, publications in journals, research funding, and numerous awards received by our members. As I mentioned last year, IMSUT will work on promoting medical science research leading to future medical treatment. To realize this, we must bear in mind three guiding principles espoused by Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato, IMSUT’s founder: "Practical science", "Comprehensive research", and "Disease prevention". We also need to take full advantage of our strengths such as diverse human resources, interdisciplinary research environments, an in-house supercomputer, and our affiliated project-oriented hospital. We then need to advance the balanced development of basic, translational, and clinical research with the use of complex big data and AI. I look forward to your further cooperation and greater success, which I believe is fundamental to achieving our goals in medical sciences.
Let us now take a look at IMSUT’s activity as an “International Joint Usage/Research Center”, which supports medical science in Japan and the world.
Since November 2018, IMSUT has been the only authorized International Joint Usage/Research Center in the life science field and has served as the "International Joint Research Center for Promotion of Basic and Applied Medical Sciences". In this Joint Usage/Research Center Project, IMSUT aims to extend the horizon of knowledge in basic research and accelerate the creation of medical innovation in applied research by promoting effective collaboration with universities and research institutes in Japan and abroad, through three core joint research areas.
Up to this point, IMSUT indeed has supported numerous joint research projects between domestic research institutes and overseas research institutes as a core center. Unfortunately, the number of international joint research projects adopted in FY2021 has decreased to 25, down from 34 the year before due to activity restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus. Nevertheless, the ratio of international joint research projects including domestic institutions other than IMSUT to the total number of the adopted international projects has increased from FY2020. Likewise, the number of papers co-authored with overseas researchers has shown a clear increase in FY2020, and the number of international joint research applications for FY2022 reached more than 35. These results have convinced me that the strengthening of international joint research in the so-called With-Corona era can certainly be realized.
This fiscal year, which is the final year of the first term of IMSUT’s International Joint Usage/Research Center Project, we received the highest S rating in the term-end evaluation. I would like to express my earnest gratitude to all of you for your efforts in maintaining the S rating, which IMSUT received in the mid-term evaluation.
The term-end evaluation comments include specific praise for the effective shared use of facilities and materials provided by IMSUT and excellent research initiatives in collaboration with IMSUT Hospital. On top of that, the implementation of IMSUT functional enhancement projects, which is an essential part as the Center, is progressing quite smoothly. In FY2020, the research for new dimension genomic medicine led by Prof. Imoto started as a MEXT Budget Request project. And then in FY2021, the new dimensional vaccine research and development program led by Prof. Ishii was launched as well. These projects have been followed by the project for infectious disease control under the initiative of the Japanese Union for the Promotion of Infectious Disease Knowledge through Research and Education led by Prof. Kawaguchi. I am delighted to hear that the importance of this project has been well recognized and its MEXT Budget Request is currently in progress. In FY2022, though it has yet to be finalized, we will be moving ahead with the plan to enhance the International Joint Usage/Research Center Project through collaboration with four stations, namely the three functional enhancement projects mentioned here and IMSUT Hospital. I would like to kindly ask for your continued cooperation.
Regarding IMSUT Hospital, some specific action plans shown here for its functional enhancement were put forward last year by Dr. Tojo. Following this, I have received a promising report from Hospital Director Yotsuyanagi on an initiative with the Shirokanedai-Hongo Project, which is being promoted in collaboration with the University of Tokyo Headquarters and the University of Tokyo Hospital. The report notes: (i) the realignment of the Hospital organization which is necessary to promote “palliative treatment” in close cooperation with the Department of Oncology and General Medicine by the establishment of the Department of Palliative Medicine and Advanced Clinical Oncology, (ii) a significant increase in the number of operations by Prof. Shida of Surgery, Prof. Kume and Dr. Takahashi of Urology, and (iii) an increase in the number of inpatient rehabilitation cases owing to physiotherapists. For further functional enhancement of IMSUT Hospital, I would again like to ask for your help and cooperation.
Next, let me turn to the Platforms for Advanced Technologies and Research Resources Project, Biobank Japan, and the Translational Research Network Program. These IMSUT’s operations serve as core centers that contribute to the promotion of life sciences in Japan, together with the International Joint Usage/Research Center.
The first is the “Platforms for Advanced Technologies and Research Resources” project in innovative research areas, which is a particularly important and innovative project. In this project, research on cutting-edge technology for advanced analyses in life science is pursued with the aim of supporting Japan's research projects funded by KAKENHI (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research). Senior Prof. Inoue is the general representative of the Committee on Promoting Collaboration in Life Sciences, which is responsible for the general management of the Project, and Prof. Murakami and Senior Prof. Inoue are the representatives of two of the four support platforms. The Research Platform Office in charge of operation management is set up in the Dean's Office of IMSUT, where Senior Prof. Inoue and Prof. Takekawa serve as Head and Deputy Head, respectively. Thirteen faculty members of IMSUT are currently involved in this support project, including Prof. Daigo, Prof. Yamada, and Prof. Mashimo.
The “Platforms for Advanced Technologies and Research Resources” project has already supported nearly 5,000 research projects, leading to publication of more than 3,000 papers, which best explains the importance of this project. In the past year alone, there have been 863 projects and 783 papers, accomplishments showing very promising results. I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone involved in this project.
FY2020 is the final year of this support project in the present term, and an application for the next term project represented by Dr. Takekawa is being processed under the agreement of each of the core institutions such as the National Institute for Physiological Sciences; the National Institute for Basic Biology; and the National Institute of Genetics. I would like to ask for your continued cooperation when it is adopted.
The second endeavor, Biobank Japan (BBJ), stores and provides extremely valuable, high-quality samples collected from all over Japan as the world’s largest-class disease biobank. Currently, additional collection of clinical information, which generates the value of the samples, is being undertaken together with the launch of a new automatic collection system. BBJ has also completed 80,000 SNP analyses that were not undertaken out of 183,000 cases conducted in 2015. Moreover, whole human genome analysis of 6,000 cases and serum metabolome analysis of at least 20,000 samples are currently in progress. All of these are new challenges with a view towards the fifth project, which is anticipated to commence in FY2023.
Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Matsuda, Prof. Murakami, Prof. Kamatani, Visiting Prof. Morisaki, Prof. Muto, Prof. Furukawa, and other members, the number of DNA and serum samples provided to researchers has been steadily increasing, and many notable achievements such as publications of studies using these samples have followed. Again, your cooperation in BBJ, including the next project expected to commence in FY2023, would be greatly appreciated.
The third endeavor is the Translational Research Network Program for which the University of Tokyo is playing a leading role in assisting the development of academia seeds from the basic research stage to clinical implementation. In this project, Prof. Fumitaka Nagamura, Prof. Yotsuyanagi, and other members of IMSUT provide a wide range of support services together with the members of the University of Tokyo Hospital.
In FY2022, the current support system will be replaced with a new one, where authorized universities or organizations boost translational research as the "Center for Advancing Translational Research (CATR)". Its new support system will continue as before to assist in the entire research process from the germination of academia seeds in basic research to their application in actual medical treatment. The development of academia seeds and their practical application such as out-licensing to companies, clinical trials, and marketing authorization applications are making satisfactory progress. For instance, Prof. Todo’s novel treatment with oncolytic virus, which is covered by public health insurance, has already been introduced at IMSUT Hospital.
Also, visible progress has been made in the research and development that has led to the First in Human clinical trials, the first stage of testing in human subjects. If you find any seeds in your own research results that could merit further development, please feel free to contact the Program team. I look forward to seeing the innovative seeds you find become a new global preventive or therapeutic measure launched by IMSUT.
As for the enhancement of shared facilities, which is a vital part of strengthening IMSUT’s research capabilities, Prof. Mashimo is currently taking the lead in improving the facilities and equipment of the Amami Laboratory of Injurious Animals with a supplementary budget. On the other side, owing to the efforts of Prof. Tokiko Nagamura and other members, a new Cell Processing Facility is already in operation on this campus. Aiming at social implementation of its products, a manufacturing authorization application has been submitted as well. Furthermore, using various financial resources effectively, Prof. Iwama and other members are actively working on the development of shared research facilities by, for instance, introducing advanced equipment such as IVIS, CT, AFM (atomic force microscope), and Flow Cytometry. It is hoped that this will encourage more active and extensive use of the highly functional facilities.
Another important factor in strengthening IMSUT’s activity is the enhancement of the research environment. In addition to the renovation of the north side of Building No. 3, a supplementary budget for other improvement projects including the south side renovation has been successfully passed. The effective use of the Shirokanedai Campus site project is being promoted in cooperation with the University of Tokyo Headquarters, and a supplementary budget for the renovation of the Open Laboratory Building has also been approved. All these improvements owe much to Vice-Dean Iwama, General Manager Matsui, and other members of the Administration Office, which I greatly appreciate.
Lastly, I would like talk about the enhancement of social cooperation, which is also important for strengthening IMSUT’s function. We promoted our alumni association events, public relations activities, and effective use of a Vaccine Development Grant from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group for vaccine development, IMSUT Hospital, and shared facilities. Neither of these would have been possible without the sheer dedication of Vice-Dean Furukawa, Vice-Dean Nakanishi, and the members of the Administration Office. The first MUFJ-FG Vaccine Development Grant has already been awarded for seven research projects and the second call is to be opened next year. We very much look forward to receiving your applications.
So that roughly sums up the various functional enhancement measures taken, and the progress made by IMSUT in 2021. As I always mention, I believe the core activity of IMSUT is its unique research and technological developments that individual researchers and medical professionals carry out, driven by their intellectual curiosity. I sincerely hope that IMSUT members will continue to actively promote the balanced development of “basic, translational, and clinical research with the use of complex big data and AI”, which I mentioned earlier, in the exceptional environment of IMSUT.
There is no doubt that such research activities are supported by the strong cooperation of the Department Chairs joined by Prof. Kawaguchi; Hospital Executives joined by Hospital Director Yotsuyanagi and Vice Director Tokiko Nagamura; and administrative members of staff joined by Administrative Affairs Division Manager Suetake. And of course, we, the IMSUT Executives joined by Prof. Yotsuyanagi will continue to do our utmost to support your research activities.
I understand that there is still much need to improve our work, but as promised in my inauguration speech, I will do my best to enable each of you to perform to the best of your ability. I would greatly appreciate your cooperation.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yuji Yamanashi, Ph.D.
Dean