Living creatures such as plants, insects and fish have fascinated Tohru Takahashi, Ph.D. from an early age. Even today, this curiosity continues to cross paths both personally and professionally.
Catching a poisonous fish "fugu"
In his free time, Dr. Takahashi enjoys fishing and catching the famous fugu. Also known as the ‘puffer fish,’ the fugu is a poisonous fish that is used in one of the most celebrated dishes in Japanese cuisine. By law in Japan, fugu only can be prepared commercially by chefs that undergo several years of rigorous training to learn how to properly remove the poisonous parts to prepare it appropriately. Similarly, Dr. Takahashi has undergone years of rigorous training and hands-on experience to become an expert in molecular biology and protein engineering leading him to become a Corporate Officer, Global Head of Research Platform and Strategy at Daiichi Sankyo.
Engineering living organisms to create medicines
Dr. Takahashi’s interest in living organisms, along with inspiration from his father, who was a junior high school science teacher, led him to pursue advanced studies in agriculture, specializing in plant virology and leading to a Ph.D. from Hokkaido University.
n 1990, Dr. Takahashi joined the former Sankyo due to the company’s legacy in developing medicines from living organisms, including isolating and purifying the hormone adrenaline and deriving a statin from a fungus. “At the time, the company not only focused on medicinal chemistry but natural products, and had scientists with a rich variety of experience,” said Dr. Takahashi. “I decided to join the company to continue to contribute to the development of therapeutics through protein engineering.” Dr. Takahashi’s performance in protein engineering was highly evaluated and in 1993 he was selected to be in the first group of researchers working on antibody drug development research. The foundation in protein engineering along with Daiichi Sankyo’s R&D culture led to future ADC research.
Two separate visiting scholar opportunities at the University of Illinois and Cleveland Clinic in molecular biology led Dr. Takahashi to gain further proficiency in cancer gene suppression biology. In 2013, Dr. Takahashi founded the ‘New Modality Research Laboratory’ at Daiichi Sankyo, which blended a multi-modality strategy of leveraging proteins, peptides, antibodies and nucleic acids as part of drug discovery.
Identifying game-changing research themes drive future innovation
Dr. Takahashi now leads the Research Platform and Strategy department, which includes several specialized groups including medicinal, organic and biomolecular chemistry laboratories, biological research laboratories including hit discovery and cell processing, as well as biochemistry, pharmacology and protein production research.
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“My team works to search for the goose which will lay the next ‘golden eggs.’ In other words, we are responsible for identifying the next global science trend that will allow us to craft new innovation to develop the medicines of tomorrow.”
- Tohru Takahashi, Global Head, Research Platform and Strategy, Daiichi Sankyo |
The goal of Dr. Takahashi’s team is to identify new drug targets in oncology and other areas of specialty medicine including CNS and rare diseases to drive the next pillar of scientific innovation to help patients with unmet medical needs . Focused on the future, the Research Platform and Strategy team is an engine that will continue to fuel the state-of-the-art science that will be part of Daiichi Sankyo’s next pillar of innovation.