"Group of Diet Members for the Promotion of Regenerative Medicine" visits OU

On Monday, May 22, 2023, lawmakers belonging to the political organization “Group of Diet Members for the Promotion of Regenerative Medicine,” and government officials from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) visited Osaka University.

They toured the Center of Medical Innovation and Translational Research (CoMIT) at the Graduate School of Medicine and the Medical Center for Translational Research (MTR) at Osaka University Hospital to learn about the university’s endeavors in regenerative medicine research.

Diet members in attendance:

House of Representatives members: MITSUBAYASHI Hiromi, ITO Tatsuya, FURUYA Noriko, IMAEDA Soichiro

House of Councilor member: FURUKAWA Toshiharu

First, Associate Dean NISHIDA Kohji of the Graduate School of Medicine explained the university’s endeavors in regenerative medicine, such as the development of epithelial cell sheet for treating corneal diseases, results of research seeds sponsored by MTR, and the establishment of a hub for cell manufacturing for the industrialization of generative medicine. His explanation was followed by heated discussions.

Next, Specially Appointed Associate Professor ASANO Yoshihiro gave a report on the development of gene therapy for genetic cardiomyopathies and severe heart failure.

The visitors visited some laboratories, where they took a look at corneal epithelial cell sheets using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte sheets for treating heart failure, human iPS cell-derived cartilage tissue for treating damaged cartilage. They also toured the Cell Processing Center at CoMIT.

The lawmakers expressed their high hopes that patients waiting for regenerative medicine and gene therapy will receive treatment through each stage of research, clinical trials, and practical application.

Mr. Ito and Mr. Mitsubayashi looking at iPS cell-derived sheets of corneal tissue

Mr. Furukawa, Ms. Furuya, and Mr. Imaeda looking at iPS cell-derived myocardial sheets