About 1/2 of Japanese people develop cancer, and about 1/3 of them are said to die from cancer, and overcoming cancer is a human task. Especially, colon cancer is increasing in Japan. In order to improve the prognosis of colorectal cancer, it is necessary to clarify the detailed mechanism of onset and malignancy of colorectal cancer and to identify new therapeutic targets. I am focusing on cancer stem cells as a target for that purpose. We aim to clarify the role of protein phosphatases in the control mechanism of cancer stem cells and to develop novel therapeutic strategies for colon cancer.

In veterinary clinical practice, neoplastic diseases are important which is one of the leading causes of death. Furthermore, it is known that spontaneous tumors in companion animals which share a living environment with humans exhibit many characteristics in common with human tumors, and research on small animal tumor has the possibility to contribute to the medical field. However, biological characteristics of small animal tumor are largely unknown, and biological analyses to clarify the metabolic changes and gene and protein expression characteristic of tumors, as well as research for novel treatments, are under way. My research aims to analyze the biological characteristics of small animal tumors and explore novel therapeutic strategies such as immunotherapy.

Tumors in companion animals (e.g., dogs and cats) have been increased with the advances in veterinary medicine, reaching to the top cause of death. To overcome it, we need to understand their pathology, i.e., why they occur and how they progress. Currently, I am studying the mechanisms of tumor progression in various companion animal cancers, mainly focusing on canine mammary gland tumors or urothelial cancers, with molecular biological methods as well as state-of-art technology like comprehensive genetic analysis (e.g., microarray, RNA-seq, exome analysis, whole genome analysis), single-cell RNA-seq, or spatial transcriptomics. Also, I am working on the development of deep-learning-based artifical intelligence models with my expertise on bioinformatics to help diagnostic radiology.

Veterinary pathology is the study of the causes of animal diseases and the study of their mechanisms. The results revealed by veterinary pathology are returned to clinical practice to help diagnose and treat animal diseases. Although our research targets all kinds of animals other than humans, we also contribute to the human medicine through basic research using laboratory animals.
I have experience in pathological diagnosis in a variety of animals, including companion animals, industrial animals, laboratory animals, wild animals, exotic animals, zoo and aquarium animals, fish, and invertebrates. I aim to identify issues from spontaneous diseases seen in various animals and to conduct research that can be fed back to clinical practice. At the same time, I will develop basic research using experimental pathological methods.

There are many disease for which the mechanism has not been elucidated yet and there are not cure. In paticular, the treatment of heart diseases and kidney diseases which are common at elderly animals, are often “care”, not “cure”. I am currently conducting researches on the mechanism of these deseases (e.g. moleculer, signaling, genetic etc…) for new “cure” treatment methods.
Furthermore, I concentrate my efforts on developing method of veterinary education and postgraduate education.

Chronic exposure to psychological stress leads to increased levels of hormones and cytokines, including glucocorticoids, in the blood or brain tissue. These substances may be involved in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders such as depression. To study the chronic effects of glucocorticoids on the nervous system, we are creating animal models of depression to identify useful targets for the treatment of depression. Steroid hormones are also known to protect nerve cells (neuroprotection) and I am investigating how this action is altered in the pathogenesis of depression and whether it can be used to develop treatments.

In Japan, average lifespan has grown significantly, but healthy lifespan has not. This indicates a substantial population of elderly individuals requiring long-term care. Musculoskeletal disorders (e.g. osteoporosis and sarcopenia) are prominent causes of needing care. In these conditions, decreased mobility leads to an increased risk of falls and fractures. Prolonged immobility during treatment exacerbates the decline in mobility. Extended periods of immobility often result in a high incidence of bedridden, which can trigger the onset of dementia. Therefore, addressing musculoskeletal disorders is crucial not only for reducing daily burdens but also for preventing the cascade progression to falls, fractures, bedridden status, and dementia.
While exercise is effective in maintaining musculoskeletal health, there are concerns about traumatic injury by engaging in training, potentially leading to further decline in mobility. Drug therapy holds promise as a treatment option, and tremendous efforts have been made for developing novel drugs; however, the creation of effective therapeutic drugs has yet to be achieved.
This study aims to explore compounds that activate cells composing bones and muscles, with the ultimate goal of creating innovative therapeutic drugs for musculoskeletal disorders.

I am interested in finding ways to make the acquisition of English and other foreign languages easier for Japanese learners. Therefore, my research focuses on acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical structures, and effective methods of education, including extensive reading and content-based instruction.

The cardiac synchronicity attracted attention because in human medicine prolongation of QRS duration is an independent prognostic factor of heart failure patients. It is believed that this is due to delayed electrical excitement of the ventricle, resulting in inefficient myocardial movement, which is supported by the benefical effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy. However, as a problem of cardiac resynchronization therapy, it is mentioned that there are many cases called non-responders. One of the methods for detecting this non-responder is mechanical dyssynchrony assessed by echocardiography. Dogs have electrical conduction systems similar to humans, and are often used as dyssynchronous model animals. I suspect that mechanical dyssynchrony assessed by echocardiography in dogs may be a factor that worsens the prognosis of heart disease? We are conducting research using clinical cases and model animals.

Reproductive success is an important factor directly related to management of domestic animal farms, and its improvement needs multi-approach from various directions, such as reproductive technique, hygiene management, feed,etc. From now, I would like to make studies aimed to solve the reproductive problems in the field, not only with cow ,but with small ruminants（goat, sheep, deer）and Japanese local horse.

In general, tooth morphology has been used to identify mammalian fossils. Some groups of primates have very similar tooth morphology, and other external morphologies are also hard to use for identification. To overcome this issue, we are attempting to use the morphology of the calcaneus and astragalus, which have been used to classify higher taxa traditionally, to identify primates and their fossils.
We are also conducting the comparative anatomy of various animals, such as whether the unique blood vessels of specialized mammals, e.g.) cetaceans, are homologous which arteries of other mammals.

I aim to understand and evaluate the physical and mental conditions of livestock animals from the viewpoints of physiology and behavior, and to construct a rearing environment in which livestock animals can maximize their potential. In particular, we are conducting research on the effects of temperature on livestock animals and examining ways to supply healthy, safe, and high-quality livestock products to people even under climate change caused by global warming.

I am studying the effects of radiation therapy in veterinary medicine. We are also investigating the possibility of using sensors to detect animal behavior and applying this to clinical practice.

Pathology is the study to investigate the causes and mechanisms of wide variety of diseases.
My activities involve;
■Diagnostic pathology of various animal species especially companion animals.
■”Cosmetic autopsy”: this is an animal-owner-friendly procedure while maintaining scientific/medical robustness.
■Establishment of veterinary forensic science in Japan.
■International cooperation: I used to work in Laos (in Southeast Asia) for 3 years as JICA volunteer and in US for 3 years as veterinary pathology resident at Purdue University (in Indiana). Living abroad is always fun and challenging!
■Development of new career path for veterinary students.

To protect from viruses, animals including humans have acquired various innate immunity. However, viruses have also gotten the abilities to evade the host immune responses in order to efficiently propagate.
In the relation between viruses and host immune responses, I focus on the “programmed cell death”, which is the cell suicide to inhibit the infection to other cells, and “stress granule”, which is recently identified as the new host immune response. In the future, I’d like to investigate emerging infectious disease viruses to elucidate the viral survival-strategy against the host.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule is a glycoprotein expressed on cell surface. MHC molecule plays important role for inducing acquired immunity by presenting self or non-self peptides to T cells. it is known that MHC genes encoding MHC molecules are highly polymorphic genes. In human, various report shows these polymorphisms are related with the risk for graft rejection, tumor and development of autoimmune diseases. However, the correlation between MHC polymorphisms and various diseases in small animals such as dog and cat were unclear so far.
I study about the polymorphisms and functions of MHC in animals and relation of MHC with various diseases. Through these studies, I want to incarnate the regenerated medicine with stem cell transplantation in veterinary medicine and the elucidation for mechanisms of development of autoimmune diseases.

Spinal cord injury is an intractable disease that is often encountered in clinical veterinary medicine. A number of treatments including cytokine administration and cell transplantation have been reported, but thus far, effective treatment has not yet been establishd. I am studing the mechanisms of neural regeneration by cytokine administration and neural conversion using small molecule to develop novel thrapy for canine spinal cord injury.

Hypercoagulability disorders, including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and thrombosis, are common and significantly associated with poor prognosis in dogs with malignant tumors. However, the pathogenesis of DIC is not fully elucidated, as well as available tools for the diagnosis and treatment methods for procoagulant states in the dogs are limited. Currently, I am conducting experiments with the aim of the research to elucidate the pathogenesis of DIC and to develop a novel strategy for diagnosis and treatment of DIC in the dogs.
Also, I am conducting exploration of novel drugs to treat malignancy. Even though a lot of cancer research have been conducted, malignancy is the leading cause of death in humans and dogs. Therefore, malignant tumor is one of the most important desease to be overcomed. Development of the novel strategies for treating malignant tumors is a substantial contribution not only in veterinary medicine but also in human medicine.

Breast tumor cells have various differentiation states, and it has been reported that clinical malignancy and prognosis vary depending on the differentiation stage. Therefore, it is very important to know the differentiation status of mammary tumors, but the mechanisms of tumor differentiation are still largely unknown. This research focuses on the function of type Ⅵ collagen in mammary tumor cell differentiation, mainly using canine mammary tumors. Many canine mammary gland tumors have luminal epithelial progenitor cell characteristics, and it is considered important to understand the differentiation mechanism of this characteristic. I am currently conducting histological and molecular biological research on the differentiation mechanism of breast tumors and related tissue morphology, focusing on various differentiation factors.

My research goal is to identify the impact of antimicrobial use in animals (farm animals & small animals) to the human population using various epidemiological methods, ranging from quantitative to molecular techniques. With the development of the sequencing technology, we will look into the whole-genome of the bacteria and microbiome derived from diverse animals and the environment. My other research interests are in developing epidemiologic data visualization and bacterial evolution analysis.
Image: Showing the prevalence of　antibiotic resistant Salmonella in cattle after the treatment with ceftiofur and chlortetracycline