Investigating the efficacy and safety of medicines by making full use of genetic engineering

The goal of medicine is to treat illness, but first we must understand that illness. Physiology is for explaining the skillful mechanisms of living things, and pathophysiology is for understanding how illnesses disrupt these mechanisms. Also, in order to safely use medicines, it is necessary to research the cases when medicines disrupt the workings of organisms. In our laboratory, we are proceeding with research using two methods. One is to artificially create disease in a laboratory animal, and examine the changes in its physiological functions. The other is to give the laboratory animal medicinal products, and thoroughly investigate the changes in gene expression accompanying injuries to each organ. Both are fields in which recent, dramatic advances in genetic engineering have led to the realization of concepts previously considered to be only dreams.