My name is Kazuya Maeda and I have taken over this laboratory from Dr.
Tomoo Ito, in April, 2021.
"Biopharmaceutics" is a study field to understand the movement
of drugs in the body (pharmacokinetics; PK), which is determined by the
interactions between various drugs and biomolecules, in a hierarchical
manner (molecular level - tissue level - body level). In order to understand
pharmacokinetics, it is necessary to establish a methodology that can quantitatively
evaluate how PK-related molecules (mainly metabolic enzymes and transporters)
recognize drugs and how efficiently they process drugs. The metabolism/transport
efficiency of drugs at the organ level cannot be estimated as a sum of
the drug clearance for each molecule, but must be understood as a multi-layered
system that takes into account the arrangement of multiple molecules with
utilizing physiologically-based mathematical models. Furthermore, the total
drug clearance in the body is determined as a sum of organ clearances.
- Therefore, the most important thing in our research is that it is not
enough to simply obtain qualitative results from in vitro studies, but
all results must be interpreted quantitatively and ultimately lead to the
prediction of pharmacokinetics in humans. In order to achieve this goal,
we aim to propose novel in silico, in vitro, in vivo, and clinical study
designs and validate our methodologies by comparing the results obtained
at different layers.
- We try to contribute to the optimization of pharmacotherapy, understanding
of mechanisms of inter-individual variability in drug efficacy and side
effects, and establishment of methodologies aimed at optimizing pharmacokinetic
properties of drug candidates in the process of drug discovery and development.
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