Finding the Parts of the Body to Heal, Like Interlocking Gears

Our bodies are like interlocking gears, with various

elements combined and working in concert.

When we get sick, something goes wrong somewhere in the body's mechanism,

which was running in perfect harmony when we were healthy.

To find the key to curing a disease, we need to unravel this complex, gear-like mechanism.

By getting closer to this unraveling,

Ms. Yonezu is dedicated to research that could lead to the seeds of new drugs.

(As of December 2024)

Photo: Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University

"Phenomena that don't occur when you're healthy suddenly happen." This, Ms. Yonezu says, is the mystery of getting sick. Some phenomena are triggered by illness, while others cause functions to cease. The central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, and the finer parts of the body are connected by blood. Substances that normally have difficulty entering the brain can enter it via the blood when a person is sick, causing pathological conditions. Ms. Yonezu is trying to clarify the mechanism by which neurological dysfunction appears in patients with spinal cord injuries, focusing on the blood. How do cell-derived factors transported to the central nervous system by the blood cause these pathological conditions? What can be done to prevent them from being transported? If we can identify the part that stops the phenomenon leading to the pathological condition, it will become a "seed" for developing therapeutic drugs for central nervous system diseases.

Ms. Yonezu became keenly aware of the potential of medicine during her junior high school years while living abroad in a country with an inadequate healthcare system. With medicine, people can be saved in any country. She entered the Faculty of Pharmacy with the desire to create drugs that could save lives anywhere. After enrolling, she gained knowledge from a wide range of fields such as the medical sciences, biology, and chemistry. She says her core theme began to take shape through discussions with researchers in agriculture and at the Faculty of Science and Technology at external partner institutions. Ms. Yonezu studies the relationship between the central nervous system and various organs, and hopes to one day not only cure diseases but also discover methods for prevention. "It's a long road, and I don't know if I'll find it in my lifetime, but I want to create new drugs." She says she enjoys the moments when something becomes visible by combining the various data obtained from her research. The many gears of knowledge within Ms. Yonezu also interlock and rotate, continuously generating new knowledge.

Q. What do pharmaceutical sciences mean to you?

A. Mobilizing all knowledge to unravel the mechanisms of the body.