2020.07.06
KGRI opened a call for applications for the "FY2020 KGRI Research Grant for the COVID-19 Crisis" to support cross-disciplinary research on the COVID-19 crisis and the post-COVID-19 era.
Despite the limitations in publicizing the application guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we received a large number of applications. We are very pleased that this has given us an opportunity to reaffirm that many researchers within the university consider the COVID-19 crisis a top priority and are committed to addressing it and pursuing related research. This call for applications targeted two areas: (1) research for emergency measures to minimize the impact of COVID-19 infections, and (2) research for medium- to long-term measures in light of the post-COVID-19 era. In addition, the call for proposals encouraged interdisciplinary research spanning multiple groups both inside and outside Keio University (including overseas bases), rather than research by a single research group.
As a result of the screening process, which included a careful document review followed by open hearings, four projects were ultimately selected: "Exploration and Mathematical Quantification of Predictive Markers for Acute Exacerbation/Severe Cases of COVID-19" by Makoto Ishii (Associate Professor, School of Medicine); "Practical Med-Tech Design Project: Lessons from Emergency Response and the Post-COVID-19 Era" by Kenjiro Takemura (Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology); "Identification of COVID-19 Risk and Protective Factors in Japanese People Using Japanese Brazilians as a Comparative Control" by Jin Nakahara (Professor, School of Medicine); and "Development of the Keio Model for Optimizing COVID-19 PCR Testing Based on Systems Theory" by Koichi Matsuo (Professor, School of Medicine). All of the submitted research proposals were excellent, so much so that after reviewing the documents and hearing the presentations at the open hearings, we felt that any of them would have been worthy of selection. Among them, Dr. Ishii's proposal was recognized as an extremely important project for preventing the collapse of the healthcare system, as it aims to prospectively identify factors that lead to severe cases of COVID-19 and prevent them. Dr. Nakahara's proposal was evaluated as a highly important and impactful project that will search for the "Factor X" that allowed Japan to avoid a collapse of its healthcare system by comparing Japanese people with Japanese Brazilians, who have a similar genetic background. Dr. Matsuo's proposal was recognized for its potential to be a project of extremely high impact in controlling a second wave, should it succeed in proposing a Keio model for PCR testing based on simulation and empirical evidence. Additionally, Dr. Takemura's proposal was highly praised for its construction of a medical-engineering collaboration ecosystem for the post-COVID era, as a study for medium- to long-term measures.
While all the submitted research proposals had many outstanding aspects, these four projects were selected because they were particularly characteristic of KGRI, and also taking into account that they involve research spanning multiple groups both inside and outside Keio University (including overseas bases). We hope that they will further promote their research on the post-COVID-19 crisis in an interdisciplinary manner and in collaboration with other groups.
[Recipients]
Makoto Ishii (Associate Professor, School of Medicine)
Practical Med-Tech Design Project: Lessons from Emergency Response and the Post-COVID-19 Era
Kenjiro Takemura (Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology)
Jin Nakahara (Professor, School of Medicine)
Development of the Keio Model for Optimizing COVID-19 PCR Testing Based on Systems Theory
Koichi Matsuo (Professor, School of Medicine)
[Comments from the Recipients]
Makoto Ishii
It is a great honor to be selected for the KGRI Research Grant for the COVID-19 Crisis. As a member of the COVID-19 lifesaving medical team at Keio University Hospital, I have been continuously providing medical care as a respiratory physician. In treating many COVID-19 patients, I have experienced firsthand that this disease often appears to be a common cold at first but can rapidly worsen in many cases. In this research, through a medical-engineering collaboration with Professor Yasue Mitsukura's laboratory at the Faculty of Science and Technology, we will develop a new prediction formula for severe cases, establish a "COVID-19 Severity Prediction System," and aim to improve the lifesaving rate.
Photo: Professor Koichi Fukunaga (fourth from left, front row) and Associate Professor Makoto Ishii (fifth from left, front row) (Group photo of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, taken in July 2019)
Kenjiro Takemura
It is a great honor to have been selected for the FY2020 KGRI Research Grant for the COVID-19 Crisis. With no signs of the novel coronavirus abating, there are calls for a transformation of our social structure, including the research environment at universities. In a sense, one could say that the virus has brought to light the issues that were inherent in our society. Through our emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as developing protective equipment and ventilators and publishing data on mask performance evaluation, we will reconsider the role of universities in the international community and aim to build a new environment for med-tech research and human resource development.
Jin Nakahara
I am honored to have my research project recognized. Amid this global pandemic, while Japan has managed to keep human casualties relatively low, the infection continues to spread in Brazil on the other side of the globe. Brazil is home to the world's largest population of people of Japanese descent, and the Juku School of Medicine has deepened Japan-Brazil exchanges for over 40 years, including by sending medical students to Brazil every year. Juku and Brazil, with PUCRS (Professor Douglas K. Sato) as a base, will proceed with information analysis to understand how COVID-19 manifests differently due to cultural and environmental disparities between the two countries, despite their shared roots. From this, we hope to derive a new way of living with COVID-19.
Photo: Professor Douglas K. Sato (left) and Professor Jin Nakahara (right) (at PUCRS, Brazil, taken in January 2019) Koichi Matsuo
We would like to thank KGRI for the support and encouragement it has given for us to pursue this project with greater confidence. We are a team of scientists and researchers hailing from disciplines across Keio that is working with Keio University Hospital to implement a new system to carry out an appropriate number of diagnostic SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests to support the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are applying "systems thinking" and "systems engineering" to help us visualize, manage, and optimize our external clinical laboratory. It is a privilege to be able to work toward this goal with the backing of KGRI.