Community Impact in Action

・Discussion on the Pharma Valley Project
On February 4, 2025, a meeting was held in Tokyo to exchange opinions on the Pharma Valley Project. Representing Keio University as a collaborating partner was Dr. Kenji Konomi, deputy director of the Clinical and Translational Research Center at the Keio School of Medicine. The meeting opened with greetings from the governor of Shizuoka, Yasutomo Suzuki, and a briefing on the current status of the project by Dr. Ken Yamaguchi, president emeritus and director of the Shizuoka Cancer Center. This was followed by an exchange of views on the project, with Deputy Director Konomi advising on the use of the University Medical Startup Support Program.

・Drug discovery research realizes the development of therapeutics for ocular diseases which lead to blindness
In recent years, it has become evident that hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) plays an important role in retinal degenerative diseases that cause blindness. In this study, six species of fish which contained extracts with HIF inhibitory effects were selected from among Shizuoka Prefecture fish species collected at the Shizuoka Prefectural Fisheries and Marine Technology Research Institute, wherein their active substances underwent fractionation, purification and structural elucidation at the Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University. In addition, in-vitro screening was conducted at the Keio University School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology, Laboratory of Photobiology. The active ingredients obtained were administered to animal disease models and their efficacy was confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Fujinokuni Medical Castle Town Promotion Organization (Pharma Valley Center) in Shizuoka Prefecture owns the Shizuoka Chemical Compound Library, which holds 120,000 compounds. The Laboratory of Photobiology received compounds from the library and is also exploring bioactive small molecules via the above-mentioned in-vitro screening.

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Based at the Agri Open Innovation Practical and Applied Research Center (AOI-PARC) in Shizuoka Prefecture, the AOI Project conducts R&D in agriculture-related fields using ICT and other advanced technologies while seeking to expand their usage. Amidst these activities, it aims to advance sustainable agriculture among local communities by fostering a virtuous cycle between agriculture and food, encouraging the pursuit of efficient production methods and supporting behavioral changes among producers to reduce environmental impact.
In AY 2024, a prototype of the smartphone app TPOplan was developed as a tool to aid in managing operations more efficiently in agricultural enterprises. Attention was given to how to make use of underutilized resources, particularly vegetables and fruits that do not meet standards.

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With AOI-PARC, which opened in 2017, as a base, and with the aim of promoting business development of related industries centered on agriculture through the industrial fields of "agriculture, food, health" and "agriculture, commerce, industry," as well as the widespread involvement of industrial, academic, and governmental funds, workshops were held to train human resources who will be responsible for advanced agriculture by utilizing the resources of AOI-PARC to popularize advanced environmental control technology, analysis technology for measured big data, etc., within research and production sites across the prefecture.

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In a joint study with the Shizuoka University, the Shizuoka Prefectural Fisheries and Marine Technology Research Institute focused on Substance A, based on the screening results of specific fish-derived substances. First, in vitro experiments confirmed that Substance A has a HIF-inhibiting effect. Next, in experiments using laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) mice, a model for age-related macular degeneration, it was found that Substance A reduces the area of CNV. Furthermore, qPCR analysis revealed that Substance A suppresses the expression of inflammatory factors such as IL-6. These results suggest that Substance A has the potential to be a new therapeutic agent for age-related macular degeneration.

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Set at multiple points from the surface to seafloor, a system equipped with current velocity and dissolved oxygen sensors developed for remote monitoring on the seas was installed in a fish pen at Uchiura Bay, in Shizuoka Prefecture’s Numazu City, with the aim of monitoring the occurrence of hypoxia and elucidating the mechanism of fish mortality in fisheries. After analyzing the results, as well as analyzing the seafloor topography and sludge, it was found that the area directly under the fishery may be anoxic due to abnormal growth of microorganisms, resulting in the occurrence of death during stagnant tidal currents. Based on this, a system for preventing fish mortality was created, equipped with an alert function.

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