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The Education System for Chemical Biology in Japanese Universities Hiroyuki Osada†,*, Masatoshi Hagiwara‡, Kazunobu Toshima§, and Masaya Imoto¶
† Discovery Research Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan, and visiting professor, Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Keio University, ‡School of Biomedical Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-8510, Japan, § Department of Applied Chemistry, and ¶Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, 3-14-1Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan
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*Corresponding author,
[email protected].
Published online September 15, 2006 10.1021/cb6003614 CCC: $33.50 © 2006 by American Chemical Society
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n Japan, organic chemistry has been the traditional approach to elucidating biological phenomena. The department of agricultural chemistry and the department of pharmacology have been the backbone of chemical biology, and many students graduating from these departments are employed by pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, Japanese universities have not needed to reorganize their departments to conduct research at the interface of chemistry and biology. As the field matures and grows, however, some universities do plan to establish a department for chemical biology, and chemical biologists in Japan have organized the Japanese Association of Chemical Biology to facilitate research. To place the education system in perspective for all readers, it’s important to note that Japan has national, public, and private universities. As examples of how chemical biology is taught at these universities, we will discuss the graduate program at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU; national) and the undergraduate and graduate programs at Keio University (private). School of Biomedical Science, TMDU. Research emerging from the decoding of the human genome opened the door to practical research and collaboration between
fields. The fields now working together include molecular and cellular biology, structural biology and immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and bioinformatics. In response to the social and academic demands of the new era, the School of Biomedical Science of TMDU was established in 2003; it is the first postgraduate school engaged in the education and research of postgenome medicine in Japan. In this graduate school, we started the biomedical science Ph.D. program to create scientists who have the ability to manage expanding information, resolve practical problems, and promote innovation in the life sciences. This program has two courses, bioinformatics and functional biology, and accepts undergraduate students educated in medicine, biology, bioscience, chemistry, pharmacology, informatics, and systems engineering from all over the world. To support the widening research fields, outstanding institutes in the Tokyo area, such as the National Cancer Center, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute, and RIKEN, are contributing their resources and scientific expertise to this new program. For detailed information on our Ph.D. program, go to www.tmd.ac.jp/ mri/SBS/index_e.html. Chemical biology is one of the major subjects of our Ph.D. program. Chemical biology involves solving biological problems at the molecular level and using the techniques, knowledge, and ideas of chemistry to regulate biological systems. We developed a www.acschemicalbiology.org
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FOCUS applied chemistry, including chemical biology. In the field of chemical biology, the research activity at this department involves Undergraduate students Graduate students both the synthesis of bioactive molecules Employed at companies and the analysis of life systems. Pharmaceutical 5 30 In their first year, students are required to Food 5 10 learn fundamental subjects, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. In Chemical 7 30 the second year, they study the four basic Other 3 20 disciplines on which our department is Work at institutes 0 5 founded: physical, inorganic, organic, and Work at universities 0 5 biochemistry. Undergraduates are encourAttend graduate school 80 aged to take their studies beyond the tradia A total of 100 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students were surveyed. tional framework of chemistry: to combine and modify subjects to create new ones, such as chemical biology. Third- and fourthlecture series and a practice course. The also by explaining the solution in terms of year students can systematically learn about informatics. lecture series provides an overview of the the various realms of chemistry, such as In their first year, undergraduate students analytical, environmental, material, synchemical biology field and topics of recent are required to take biology, physics, chem- thetic organic, polymer, and biochemistry. research. Bioprobes (Osada, H., Ed.; istry, and mathematics, which are the Graduate School of Science and TechSpringer: New York, 2000) and Molecular common ground of the natural sciences and nology, Keio University. Advanced courses Cell Biology (Lodish, H., Berk, A., Zipursky, technology. In the second year, they study of chemical biology are taught by the staff L., Matsudaira, P., Baltimore, D., and the three basic disciplines on which our from our graduate school as well as instrucDarnell, J., Eds.; W. H. Freeman and Co.: New department is founded: biology, chemistry, tors from other graduate institutes. Students York, 2000) are used as primary texts. We and bioinformatics. can investigate invite prominent researchers from Astellas Students are encournatural product Pharma, Inc., a major pharmaceutical aged to expand their chemistry, chemical company in Japan, as adjunct professors to studies beyond the genetics, and signal teach the practical application of chemical traditional frametransduction biology for drug discovery. In the practice work of biology by systems for cell funccourse, students learn molecular design and looking at life from tion and their regulathe syntheses of bioprobes, the structural the viewpoint of tion by using small analyses of bioprobes, and their applicamolecular theory molecules, drug distions to the biological systems in an experi- and by conducting covery, medicinal mental and hands-on manner. In this computerized analy- Tokyo Medical and Dental University Students chemical synthesis, course, students also experience highses in the lab to and so on. They also throughput screening with a chemical robot. process data on biological function. study systems biology from a chemical Department of Biosciences and InforThird- and fourth-year students can sysbiology perspective. A graduate student matics, Keio University. As the sequencing tematically investigate various areas of who wants to study chemical biology first of the human genome approaches comple- biology, including chemical, molecular, and selects an adviser. The student then contion, we must work to elucidate this new life cell biology; biochemistry; and genome ducts his or her research under the guidance science. To enter this new era, Keio Univer- technology. They also study data mining of the adviser during the two-year master’s sity established the department of bioand pattern recognition, two essential tools program. When they complete the program, sciences and informatics in 2002. Research in informatics for understanding biological students choose to either graduate with a activity at our new department involves phenomena and function. master’s degree or to advance to the 3-yr unraveling the mysteries of life systems not Department of Applied Chemistry, Keio Ph.D. program. only by using our knowledge of biology, University. The department of applied The data in Table 1 indicate that 80% of undergraduate students go on to pursue molecular biology, and chemical biology but chemistry covers many areas of pure and
TABLE 1. Where students from Keio University go after graduationa
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graduate degrees. The data also show that students who graduate from the chemical biology course will work for chemical companies as well as pharmaceutical companies. One student who attends the graduate school at Keio University and studies cell biology stated that “the chemical biology approach enables us to easily study signaltransduction systems involved in cellular events of interest.” Another graduate student in the chemistry field stated that “chemical biology education tells me the importance of chemistry in life sciences and prompts me to participate in biosciences from the viewpoint of chemistry.” With the growing interest in chemical biology, our chemical biology education program at Keio University will progress by promoting interdisciplinary research and training in systems biology. This program will train students to be scientists and engineers who have new viewpoints different from those of students of classical chemistry or traditional biology and who will have the skills to flourish in various fields around the world.
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