We are asking “why intractable diseases are hard to treat with medication?” in this project. A hypothesis we have after series of study is that given medication cannot reach disease foci due to abnormal fibrosis and vascular structure.
To test this hypothesis in diseases such as cancers and pulmonary hypertension, we utilize cells from human disease foci, as well as new technologies originated from engineering through collaboration. The new technologies include nanomedicine, 3D culture, and microfluidics. We use them to build new experimental models reproduce our points of view.
We are making progress in revealing the mechanism behind the abnormality in fibrosis are vessel formation, and finding novel targets for drug development.