I want to eliminate a world in which children give up on the future due to illness — starting a business based on the strong desire of President Kishida
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 been solved before, such as infertility treatment and investigation of the causes of genetic diseases. Hamasaki has succeeded in developing groundbreaking technology that was considered impossible at the time, by introducing transcription factors into iPS cells (artificial pluripotent stem cells) and ES cells (embryonic stem cells) to create egg-like cells directly. With this technology, we established the company with Representative Director Kishida (Wasama) and two others. Currently, we are working on mass production of egg-like cells and the creation of supporting cells surrounding oocytes in parallel.
Please tell us about the starting point of your business.
It goes back to the experience that Mr. Kishida was born suffering from hepatitis C. At the time of the infection, there was no effective treatment, and I was waiting for the emergence of new drugs, but after the introduction of new drugs in the United States, Kishida himself succeeded in treating them. However, due to the illness, he abandoned the pilot's path, which had been 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 took on the challenge of starting a business with the desire to eliminate a world where children could have to give up their dreams due to his birth illness.
Why did Mr. Kiyota join Diosive?
Originally, I was a researcher, and in academia, I received a PhD in research on germ cells. At that time, a person who was studying under a famous Japanese germ cell researcher was newly transferred to the United States, and I moved with him to a research institute in the United States. We worked on research on gametes in vitro (test jurisdiction) environment. Since then, I have been working as a researcher in the United States for three years, and what should I do now? When I thought about it, I happened to hear that Hamasaki, a researcher of germ cells, started a business with his own germ cell technology. Therefore, when I applied for a research job saying, "I would like to challenge this by all means," I was hired in a ton-ton beat.
Is the technology to directly create germ cells from iPS cells a part of your unique technology?
That's right. Mouses have a short period of maturity and reach reproductive age approximately 4 weeks after birth. Therefore, it is possible to create egg-like cells in a short period of time even in vitro (test tube). On the other hand, it takes more than a dozen years for humans to be able to produce eggs. Therefore, reproducing the Invibo process takes too much time to produce cells, and patients who want to receive fertility can’t wait so long. By using our proprietary technology, we can shorten the production period and create large amounts of egg-like cells.
Expectations for exchange events at Mitsui Link Lab "I'm looking forward to it now."
Please tell us about your encounter with Mitsui Link Lab Shinkiba 2.
This is a story I heard from Kishida that there were several candidate facilities, and when Kishida visited Mitsui Link Lab Shinkiba 2, he fell in and decided to move in. The reason I decided on Shinkiba was good access to transportation. In our case, the access environment was very important because we rented some expensive experimental equipment from an external research institution.
When you actually opened your own lab in Shinkiba, what kind of impressions do you have now?
I'm mostly in charge of experiments on cells at Shinkiba Lab, but it's very convenient. In particular, regardless of weekends and holidays, the freedom to enter and leave all day is very useful. Our work needs to be done according to the schedule of the cellular side, not the human side. The conference room is large, easy to use, and the view is wonderful, so I use it well. However, since the business is progressing smoothly and the number of researchers has increased, it has become a little smaller recently. We are currently consulting with Kishida and considering expanding the scale of the lab. The advantage of Mitsui Link Lab is that it is easy to expand even when it becomes too small, and there is no need to move.
Thank you very much. Lastly, please tell us your expectations for Mitsui Link Lab.
Currently, we are using some high-priced experimental equipment at external research institutes, so I would be grateful if these devices could be used as common experimental equipment in the lab. In addition, I am glad that there is an opportunity to exchange information such as exchange events. I have been researching at academia all the time, but in academia, it was a daily occurrence to easily visit the adjacent lab to share information and borrow reagents (laughs). Mitsui Link Lab is also looking forward to interacting with residents. Especially if you have the opportunity to talk to people in a completely different field and know what they need, it's great. I am very excited to hear that such an exchange event will be held jointly by Mitsui Fudosan and LINK-J.