Center for Promotion of Translational Research
Toshihiko Doi, Katsuya Tsuchihara, Wakako Toga, Yoshikatsu Koga, Yoshinori Ikarashi, Katsuji Aikawa, Masahiro Yasunaga, Shingo Sakashita, Daichi Ota, Hisanaga Nomura, Yutaka Tomioka, Takuya Ishii, Fumitaka Takeshita, Hiroki Sasaki, Mami Takahashi, Natsuko Okita, Kyoko Minamoto, Akihiro Ohashi, Hiroshi Fujii, Tetsuya Nakatsura, Syuichi Mitsunaga, Hiroaki Ikematsu, Hitoshi Ichikawa, Kazuhiko Aoyagi, Toshio Imai, Akinobu Hamada, Akihiro Sato, Takayuki Yoshino, Nobuyoshi Takeshita, Shigehiro Koganemaru, Masaaki Ito, Koji Nakamura, Sadamoto Zenda, Satoshi Horasawa, NoboruYamamoto, Nobuko Ushirozawa, Masashi Furuichi
Introduction
The main purpose of the Center is to standardize and share information on translational research support at the National Cancer Center, which is a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-accredited institution for supporting translational research, to discover and foster academic seeds inside and outside the NCC, and to train researchers and research support personnel.
The Team and What We Do
The Director of the Center for Promotion of Translational Research (CPOT) was concurrently appointed by the Director of the Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center (EPOC). Working members at the EPOC, Research Institute, National Cancer Center Hospital and Hospital East, and CRAS, as well as the deputy directors of these departments participated in the CPOT. The CPOT will maximize the results and value of academic research through exit-oriented research support, utilizing a support system based on abundant experience in basic research and clinical development at both campuses, as well as the ability and experiences for social implementation in the field of oncology.
Research Activities
As a Supporting Organization for the AMED Translational Research Program, the CPOT selected, managed, and evaluated 17 AMED-supported projects (Seeds A) (including 3 outside the NCC). From these, 3 projects were selected for the AMED P-PROMOTE, The Program for Practical Research for Innovative Cancer Control, and Research on Development of New Drugs, respectively. One project was recommended, and project management was carried out for an AMED commissioned project (preF). In addition, as the secretariat for the Emerging Research Program of the NCC, which discovers and nurtures early-stage seeds, we selected seven new proposals and conducted project management and evaluation. From these, one proposal was selected for the AMED Project Promoting Support for Drug Discovery, and three were selected for Seeds A in FY2023.
Education
The CPOT hired one full-time staff member specializing in supporting research projects at the basic and applied research stages. Seminars on conducting non-clinical research were held for researchers and research supporters inside and outside the NCC, with lecturers from pharmaceutical companies. In addition, a series of three lectures on "Frontiers of DDS and Nucleic Acid Delivery" was organized to provide systematic overview of new technologies that will become pillars of drug discovery research.
Future Prospects
In addition to external seed holders and pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic companies, we will collaborate more closely with CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) and support industries and academia to develop unique and novel seeds that are adapted to the latest drug discovery environment, and platform-type seeds (regenerative cell therapy, internal radiation therapy, antibody-drug conjugates, etc.) that can be horizontally expanded to multiple cancer types and non-cancer diseases.