Following in the footsteps of Dr. Masaki Otagiri, the first Director of Sojo University’s DDS Lab, and his successor Dr. Fumitoshi Hirayama, I am now the third DDS Research Institute Director. I hope to build upon the considerable experience and accomplishments of my predecessors in order to further the progress of DDS research.

The Sojo University DDS Research Institute was founded in March 2011 as the core laboratory for the Research Project to Establish a Next-Generation DDS Pharmaceuticals Development and Evaluation Research Center selected by MEXT for the 2010 Private University Strategic Research Infrastructure Development Project. Six years after its founding, the laboratory’s research organizational structure was rearranged in April 2017.

Precision medicine has garnered much attention in recent years. The goal of precision medicine is to provide precise diagnoses and optimal selection of medicine and treatment based on large amounts of patient bioinformation, such as a patient’s genetic information. This trend in medical care is reflected in field of Drug Discovery as evidenced by the precision design of pharmaceuticals based on the three-dimensional structures of enzymes, receptors, and transporters within the body. Considerable developments are being made in peptides, proteins, antibodies, and nucleic acids for biomedicines that provide treatment through precise control of signaling within the body. Usage of drug delivery systems is essential in maximizing the therapeutic effects of such precisely designed medicines.

Based on this, the research structure of the DDS Research Institute consists of the DDS Functional Materials Discovery Group, the DDS Design & Assessment Group, and the Alternative Medicine Materials Development & Assessment Group. We are making progress in DDS research to contribute to future medical developments through the participation of our experienced scientists and young researchers who are well-versed in biomolecule structure and function, precision synthetic chemistry and natural product chemistry, assessment of drug efficacy and bioactivity at the molecular level, and design and clinical assessment of supplements and medical materials.

The DDS Research Institute also works with the Graduate School Pharmaceutical Sciences Ph.D. Program on education and research activities, with these activities having the added benefits of contributing to progress in drug discovery and development in Japan, to educating pharmaceutical researchers, and eventually to educating pharmacists who possess drug discovery-oriented perspectives.

I hope for your continued support and encouragement to the benefit of the development of the DDS Research Institute.