Our ultimate research goal is to create “Body on a Chip” that reproduces living systems such as humans and animals on a micro-chip. Conventional biology has been conducted starting from individual living things to smaller constituents, such as organs → cells → intracellular organelles → molecules, so called “top-down” approach. Although this approach has elucidated the mechanism of life phenomenon considerably clearer, there are still largely unknown.
On the other hand, there is also a field that takes the research approach opposite “top-down” approach. That is called tissue engineering or synthetic biology, so-called “bottom-up” approach to reproduce cells and tissues by assembling molecules and genes themselves. In the process of assembly, the newly required molecules and processes will lead to discoveries that could not be unveiled solely by “top-down” biology alone.
Our research group takes this “bottom-up” approach, to reproduce the biological system. This’s “Body on a Chip”, which can not only clarify life phenomena but also contribute to drug development and regenerative medicine.