Conceptof the Center

Our center will serve as a platform for researchers to collaborate across ﬁelds

and facilities in Japan and overseas to develop promising drug discovery seeds
for humans and animals based on the concept of One Medicine to cultivate a

new academic ﬁeld.

There is no essential dividing line
between human and animal medicine

Advanced
One Medicine MedicalDevice

AnimalMedical Science

Development

collaboration

collaboration

AnimalMedicalCenter

Data Sciencer fo r O

collaboration
Gifu
PharmaceuticalUniversity

AcademicResearchcollaboration
and IndustryAcademiaGovernment
AcademicCollaboration
Researchand IndustryAcademiaGovernment
CollaborationeC en tUniversity
HospitalInnovative
Modality
Development

Researchn e Med i ci ne I n n o v a t i v e Tr a n s l a t i o n"Devil River"

al Resear chTheof Drug Discovery Research(Barriers from research to development)

To overcome barriers to drug discovery research

Parts of the current organization of Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Joint Graduate Schoolof Veterinary Medicine, United Graduate School of Drug Discovery and Medical Information, andGraduate School of Engineering have been reorganized to promote strong collaboration with a neworganization consisting of faculty members from Nagoya Universityʼs Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Graduate
School of Science, and Institute for Transformative Bio-Molecules, and Gifu Pharmaceutical University.
Under the new system, researchers in diﬀerent ﬁelds such as medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmaceuticals, and engineering will be in direct communication to organically connect and overcome the "Valleyof Death" in drug discovery research.

Overviewof the Center

Japan has created pharmaceuticals that revolutionized global

medicine such as, statins, immune checkpoint inhibitors, andantiparasitic drugs. However, the country has fallen behind in

the creation of vaccines and therapeutic drugs against theglobal spread of COVID-19. In order to regain a leadership

position, it is necessary to establish a more fruitful system fordeveloping and fostering drug discovery.

Trials of novel drugs in humans often fail to meet the safety

and eﬃcacy levels obtained in animal studies, which suggests aneed to better understand animal disease. In addition, in

veterinary medicine, drugs approved for human use are often
diverted to animals and drugs not approved as human drugs

are often used as veterinary drugs; moreover, the market sharefor veterinary drugs is considerably less than that for humandrugs, further emphasizing the importance of interconnectednessof developing human and veterinary research.

To cultivate a new academic ﬁeld of common humanand animal research
To promote One Medicine research, we will promote human resources that support management toexpedite the entire research process from the identiﬁcation of drug discovery targets and the develop-ment and cultivation of drug discovery seeds to non-clinical studies and clinical trial. We will placethese scientists in key domestic universities and research institutes with the goal of accelerating drug
discovery research globally.

Messagefrom the Director

Our center will promote the challenge on new drug discovery under theconcept of One Medicine to radically improve the success rate of drug
development for humans and animals and cultivate a new academic ﬁeld.
The perspective of interconnectedness of human and animal diseases, One Medicine, can rejuve-nate development of drug discovery seeds based on structural biology, cell/regenerative medi-cine, and informatics by generating disease model animals based on comparative medicine andemploying researchers in medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacology, and engineering who

collaborate across ﬁelds and facilities in Japan and overseas to develop promising drug discovery

seeds. There is an urgent need to create a system that facilitates advanced selection of drug seeds
and accelerates preclinical and clinical trials.

Our center will promote drug discovery researchbased on the concept of One Medicine to radical-ly improve the success rate in drug development

and cultivate a new academic ﬁeld. Please consid-er joining us in this endeavor.

Director Haruhiko Akiyama, MD,PhDOrganizationof the Center

Four divisions will work to overcome a signiﬁcant barrier
to more fruitful drug discovery research.
The center has four divisions: the Division of Animal Medical Science, which performs the devel-opment of disease-model animals based on comparative medicine; the Division of Data Science,

which focuses on the comparative data analysis of humans and animals using AI driven datascience; the Division of Innovative Modality Development, which specializes in the developmentand cultivation of drug discovery seeds; the Division of Advanced Medical Device Development,

which specializes in medical device development.

In addition, the Research Management Oﬃce, which is responsible for the promotion of interde-partmental collaboration to support rapid development and cultivation of drug discovery seeds,

out-licensing to companies, acquisition of intellectual property and large budgets, and facilitationof university launched ventures.

Center for One Medicine
Innovative Translational Research

Director

Haruhiko Akiyama

ResearchManagementOﬃce

AnimalMedical ScienceDivision Director

Naoto ItohOﬃce HeadHaruhiko Akiyama

Data Science
Division Director

Koji Yamanaka

Deputy Director

Koji Yamanaka

Accelerating development and cultivationof drug discovery seeds by bridging researchersand industries

Innovative
Modality Development

Advanced Medical
Device Development

Division Director

Division Director

Hidekazu Hiroaki

Fumiaki Nin

Pioneering New Medicine andUtilizing AI driven data

Identifying diseases

Improving the success rate ofUnderstanding the Similarities

drug discovery and eﬃcacy

level and potential One

discovery seeds through theVeterinary Medicine byand Diﬀerences between

Animal and Human Diseases

science to practice theoreticalprediction based oncomparative pathophysiology

between animals and humans

originating at the molecular
Medicine drug discovery
seedsclinical application of drug

development of novel medicaldevices and their deploymentto disease models

Divisionsof the Center

Division of Animal Medical Science

Pioneering New Medicine and Veterinary
Medicine by Clarifying Similarities andDiﬀerences between Animal and Human
Diseases
The aim of the Division of Animal Medical Science is tocompare diseases in humans and animals to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods through elucidation of similar and dissimilar pathological mechanisms.
We will analyze clinical data on diseases that are similar inhumans and animals, including zoonotic, neoplastic, allergic, endocrine, and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition to promoting rapid clinical trials for spontaneous
cases, we will develop small and medium animal-diseasemodels (mice, micro-minipigs, etc.) that accurately reproduce human and animal pathologies to develop therapeutic
agents, diagnostic methods, and medical devices that canbe applied to both humans and animals.

Division of Data Science

Utilizing AI driven data science topractice theoretical drug discovery andeﬃcacy prediction based on comparative
pathophysiology between animals andhumans
We integrate a wide array of data, including clinical information from both human and animal sources, multi-omics
data from various divisions and open source datasets.
Through this integrated analysis and the application of AI,
we drive data-driven research forward. This accelerates thedevelopment of disease model animals that intricately
mimic human pathologies and facilitates the rapid development of medical devices. Additionally, in collaboration
with the Research Management Oﬃce, we expand drug
discovery IR, supporting the exploration and discovery ofbasic research results in Unmet Medical Needs(UMN) in
drug development and nurturing drug discovery seeds.

Division of Innovative Modality Development

Identifying diseases originating at themolecular level and potential One Medicine
drug discovery seeds

Division of Advanced Medical Device Development

Improving the success rate of clinicalapplication of drug discovery seeds
through the development of novel
medical devices and their deployment
to disease models

The aim of this division is to elucidate the mechanisms ofvarious diseases such as cancer and neurological diseases
to develop and nurture drug seeds in various modalities
such as small and medium-sized molecules, biomolecules
including nucleic acids and antibodies, cells, and artiﬁcial biomaterials that are eﬀective in treatment of thesediseases. Researchers in this division belong to one ofseven units: The Unit of Disease Signaling Drug Discovery, the Unit of Nucleic Acid Drug Discovery, the Unit ofStructure-Guided Drug Discovery, the Unit of Data
Science Drug Discovery, the Unit of Drug Discovery
Analysis, the Unit of Development of Artiﬁcial Biomaterials, and the Unit of Regenerative and Cell Therapy.
The researchers in these units work with each other andwith researchers in other divisions to develop and foster
new modalities of treatment.

The aim of this division is to develop novel, advanced
medical devices and test them with disease models toimprove the success rate of the clinical evaluation oftherapeutic drug seeds. Using ultra-early diagnosis anddrug eﬃcacy evaluation technology with quantum(hyperpolarized) MRI and clinical diagnostic imaging
equipment such as endoscopes, we will develop a system
to better evaluate safety and eﬃcacy of drug discovery
seeds in disease models in order to shorten evaluation
periods, accelerate development and improve the successrate.

We will transform human and animal drug discovery
research by developing, nurturing, and promoting selectionof promising drug discovery seeds to clinical trial.

Center for One Medicine Innovative Translational Research

Address：1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan
E-mail ：comit@t.gifu u.ac.jp

Address：Furo cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
E-mail ：tlimp_oﬃce@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

2024.07