Research Infrastructure for Promoting the 3Rs in Animal Experimentation and Developing More Faithful Disease Model Animals
There is no doubt that animal experimentation has greatly contributed to the advancement of biomedical sciences; however, it is also true that biomedical science has been constructed on the base of a lot of sacrifice of precious animal lives. For this reason, it is essential to promote animal experimentation in accordance with the principles of the 3Rs: Reduction (Minimizing the number of animals used consistent with scientific aims), Replacement (Avoiding or replacing the use of animals in areas where they otherwise would have been used), and Refinement (Minimizing the pain, suffering or distress, and developing more sophisticated experimental methods and infrastructures). To this end, we are engaged in outreach activities through involvement in organizations such as the Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science and the Japanese Society of Laboratory Animal Medicine (a division of The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science), which are mainly domestic in focus, as well as in life science–related committees, primarily within the university. In addition, we are developing disease model mice that more faithfully replicate human and animal diseases by genetic engineering techniques in animals. Using these models, we conduct studies on the pathogenesis of inflammatory and infectious diseases via the glycan–lectin–cytokine axis, as well as functional evaluations of gut microbiota and beneficial agricultural products.
Educational approach
Global and Interdisciplinary Biomedical Science Research Using Laboratory Animals
Our lab's English name is "Laboratory of Biomedical Science", not “Laboratory of Laboratory Animal Science”, we have primarily focused on Laboratory Animal Science while also pursuing a wide range of biomedical research since the founding of the lab in 1982. As a result, our students come from diverse academic backgrounds—including animal science, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical science—not only veterinary medicine. We accept graduate students from either Veterinary Medical Science Program (Doctoral Course only) or Animal Resource Sciences Program (Master's and Doctoral Course). Now, several international students from Asian countries such as China and the Philippines are joining to our lab, allowing us to conduct global and interdisciplinary biomedical science research.
Vision for industry-academia collaboration
In vivo Functional Analysis of Beneficial Components Derived from Agricultural Products Using Various Disease Model Mice
As international collaboration with the University of the Philippines Los Baños, we have analyzed the biological function of propolis derived from the Philippine endemic stingless bee, Tetragonula biroi Friese, using disease model animals (Scientific Reports 2019; Experimental Animals 2023). From the perspective of glycobiology, we have also reported on the modulatory effects of β-glucan (polysaccharides) derived from Gagome seaweed and Euglena—on development of gastric cancer (International Immunopharmacology 2018; Scientific Reports 2021). In addition to spontaneous differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma models, we also focus a wide range of diseases, including autoimmune and alopecia, and we investigate the functional properties of beneficial components derived from agricultural products by utilizing our experience of in vivo analysis using disease model animals.
