Greeting
Greetings from Professor
I have been in charge of the Department of Microbiology since September 2022. I will do my best to live up to the history of the traditional Department of Microbiology.
At the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) emerged and subsequently caused an unprecedented pandemic. Acute respiratory virus infections are extremely difficult to prevent from spreading and there is no time to take countermeasures. In this respect, they differ greatly from blood-borne, foodborne, and sexually transmitted infectious diseases, which can be controlled by taking adequate precautions in daily life.
I originally planned to become a pediatrician. However, as I gained clinical experience, I became acutely aware of the difficulties in treating viral infectious diseases and complications by these diseases, and I decided to thoroughly study viruses and contribute to medicine through research on viruses.
I have mainly studied the molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity by measles virus and the mechanisms of activation by host proteases (proteolytic activation) of respiratory viruses (influenza virus, coronavirus, etc.). I believe that the results of these studies have partially contributed to the elimination of measles from Japan, quality control of measles vaccines, and countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2. The cell line for respiratory virus isolation (VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells) that we developed have been used around the world since the beginning of the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, and we hope that we have been of some help in this pandemic countermeasure.
Nowadays, humans exist in every corner of the earth, and the world's transportation networks are becoming overcrowded (even space is becoming overcrowded, I hear). As a result, the risk of new outbreaks of infectious diseases will only increase. We are running out of time.
Nevertheless, our daily research is full of fun. Training the next generation is one of our most important missions. First of all, please visit our laboratory, even if only for a quick peek. We look forward to seeing you.
2022 October