Department of Pharmacology

In Department of Pharmacology, I teach "The Living Body and Drugs" to second-year School of Medicine students. As the name "Pharmacology" suggests, in the lectures I explain the function of drugs at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, and aim to help students understand why each drug is used as a "therapeutic drug" and the causes of side effects. In addition, through Pharmacology lectures, I hope to organize the knowledge acquired in other lectures and lead to a systematic understanding.

In Department of Pharmacology, we are conducting research related to mental disorders such as drug addiction and depression. Social stress is a risk factor for drug addiction and depression, and patients with drug addiction and depression experience emotional changes and reduced cognitive function. Even if a patient recovers from drug addiction, exposure to small amounts of addictive drugs or strong stress can lead to a relapse, in which the patient falls back into a state of addiction. However, since no drugs have been developed to prevent relapse, and there are patients with depression for whom existing antidepressants are ineffective, it is extremely important to clarify the mechanisms behind drug addiction and depression. Stress also increases the risk of cardiovascular and digestive diseases, and changes biological functions throughout the body other than the brain. Through collaborative research both within and outside the university, we aim to promote projects on drug addiction and stress-related disorders, and to propose new drug discovery targets and develop treatments.