Exploring the unknown mechanisms of human phenomena by using in vitro human organs
Clarifying what happens inside our bodies not only satisfies intellectual curiosity but is also expected to contribute to health maintenance through diet, as well as to the development of functional foods and medicines for disease prevention and treatment.
In the past, such studies were conducted through autopsies of deceased individuals or animal experiments, but there are still many things that remain unknown.
The main reason for this is that there are very few methods available to study what is happening in the human body.
For example, genetically modified animals are used to study the function of certain genes, but their functions differ between animals and humans, and some exist only in humans.
In recent years, organoid technology has attracted attention.
Organoids are organs that can be cultured in vitro.
Until now, cultured cells were limited to cancer-derived cells and bore little resemblance to organs inside the human body; however, with human organoids, we can now analyze the responses and functions of normal human organs.
Although organoid culture is expensive, we succeeded in significantly reducing costs through our own innovations.
Currently, we are conducting research using this technology to elucidate phenomena inside the human body that could not be previously analyzed.
Educational approach
Approaching the truth of human biology by human organ models
Research attempts to clarify or discover things that are not yet understood or known.
Therefore, it is fundamentally different from ordinary schoolwork, which focuses on learning what has already been clarified.
In addition to expertise, various abilities are required to conduct good research, such as problem-finding skills, sensitivity, and logical thinking.
These abilities can be acquired more efficiently when one is younger, but they cannot be mastered quickly or easily.
Therefore, I make daily efforts to carefully teach my students the way of thinking—from the broad outline of research planning to the interpretation and discussion of individual experimental results—including the necessity of experiments and how to design them.
Moreover, organoids are a promising technology that could greatly change traditional research approaches; however, they are not yet widely used because of the difficulties in culturing them.
In addition, existing methods cannot be applied as they are in organoid experiments, and researchers are often forced to engage in trial and error on their own.
Therefore, working on this research theme is not only excellent for cultivating a high level of expertise but also ideal for developing problem-solving abilities and logical thinking, which form the foundation of all research.
Although many of my research themes are difficult, students can aim to become globally competitive researchers at an early stage through daily research activities.
Vision for industry-academia collaboration
Advancing research to elucidate human biology and explore new industrial applications without relying on animal experiments by using organoid technology.
Traditionally, in the fields of nutrition and food science, the mainstream research method was to extrapolate findings obtained from experimental animals to humans, with those from human cultured cells often regarded as supplementary data.
However, because the metabolic mechanisms of humans and animals differ, and because food companies increasingly find it difficult to conduct animal experiments from the perspective of animal welfare, alternative methods that mimic human biology without using animals are in high demand.
We have reported that the use of organoid technology is appropriate not only because it enables the elucidation of human physiological phenomena without relying on animal experiments, but also because it allows the evaluation of physiological functions that cannot be assessed using conventional cell lines (iScience, 2022).
We have also developed various original technologies, such as cost reduction in organoid culture (Stem Cell Reports, 2018) and the establishment of intestinal organoid monolayers that enable the evaluation of the absorption and permeability of food components (EBioMedicine, 2017).
I have more than eight years of experience working in a pharmaceutical company, and I am proactive in developing technologies aimed at practical applications in the industry and returning the results to society.
We can not only teach organoid culture methods and their applications but also support research that utilizes organoids for specific purposes through collaborative research.
