I want to eliminate a world in which children give up on the future due to illness---Starting a business based on President Kishida's strong desire
First of all, please tell us about your business.
We are a biotech venture that uses our proprietary cell editing technology developed by Director and Chief Technology Officer Hamasaki (Mr. Nobuhiko) to develop new solutions for medical issues that have not yet been resolved, such as infertility treatment and investigation of the causes of genetic diseases. Hamasaki has succeeded in developing innovative technologies that were considered impossible at the time to create egg-like cells directly by introducing transfer factors into iPS cells (artificial multi-function stem cells) and ES cells (embryo stem cells) to produce egg-like cells directly. With this technology, we have established the Company with Representative Director Kishida (Kazuma-sama). Currently, we are working on mass production of ovarian cells and the creation of support cells surrounding ovarian cells.
Could you tell us about the starting point of your business?
Originally, Kishida, our company's experience of being born with hepatitis C. At the time of the infection, there were no effective therapeutic drugs, and I spent many days waiting for the emergence of new drugs, but Kishida himself succeeded in the treatment of the drug. However, due to illness, he abandoned his pilot's path, which was a dream since childhood. Kishida himself is not a researcher, but he met Hamasaki, who was researching germ cells in the United States, and by implementing his technology in society, he tried to start a business because he wanted to eliminate a world where children had to give up their dreams because of their natural illness.
Why did Mr. Kiyota join the Dioieve?
Originally, I am also a researcher, and in Academia, I have obtained a Ph.D. in Academia research. At that time, a person who was studying under a famous Japanese germline researcher decided to go to the United States, and I moved to a research institute in the United States with him. We worked on research on the formation of marital status in the Invitro (test jurisdiction) environment. Since then, I have been a researcher in the United States for three years, what should I do in the future? When I was thinking, I happened to hear that Hamasaki, a reproductive cell researcher, would start a business with his own reproductive cell technology. So, when I applied for a research job saying, "I want to challenge this by all means," I was hired by Tonton beat.
Is the technology to create germ cells directly from iPS cells a part of your proprietary technology?
That's right. The mouse has a short period of maturity and reaches a reproductive age approximately four weeks after birth. That's why it is possible to create egg-like cells in a short period of time even in Invitro (test jurisdiction). On the other hand, humans take more than ten years to reach the age at which eggs can be born. Therefore, reproducing the process of inbibo (l body) takes too much time to produce cells, and patients who want to receive fertility treatment can't wait for so long. Using our proprietary technology, we will shorten the production period and enable the creation of a large amount of egg-like cells.
We are looking forward to an exchange event in Mitsui Link Lab.
Please tell us about your encounter with Mitsui Link Lab Shinkiba 2.
This is what I heard from Kishida, but when there were several candidate facilities, I heard that when Kishida visited Mitsui Link Lab Shinkiba 2, I was absorbed in and decided to move in. The reason I decided to go to Shinkiba was good access to traffic. In our case, the access environment was very important because we rented some of the expensive experimental equipment at an external research institute.
When you actually opened your own lab in Shinkiba, what do you think now?
I am in charge of experiments on cells almost at the Shinkiba Lab, but it is very convenient. In particular, regardless of weekends and holidays, it is very useful that you can enter and leave the room all day. Our job needs to be done according to the schedule of the cell side, not on the human side. The conference room is large, easy to use, and the view is wonderful, so I often use it. However, the business is progressing smoothly and the number of researchers has increased, so recently it has become a little too small recently. We are now consulting with Kishida and are considering expanding the scale of the lab. The advantage of Mitsui Link Lab is that it is easy to expand even when it gets too small, and you don't have to move.
Thank you very much. Finally, please tell us what you expect for Mitsui Link Labour.
Currently, we are using some expensive experimental equipment at external research institutes, so we would appreciate it if these devices could be used as common experimental equipment in the lab. In addition, I would be happy to have an opportunity to exchange information such as exchange events. I've been doing research in academia for a long time, but in academia, it was my daily routine to feel free to visit the adjacent laboratories to share information and borrow reagents (laughs). Mitsui Link Lab is also looking forward to interacting with residents. It would be great if you had the opportunity to talk to people in a completely different field and know what they need. I am very excited to hear that such an exchange event will be co-hosted by Mitsui Fudosan and LINK-J.