On Saturday, December 13 and Sunday, December 14, 2025, Science Castle World 2025 was held at the Ookayama Campus of the Institute of Science Tokyo, and the Keio University Faculty of Pharmacy participated as a partner university.
Science Castle is one of Asia's largest academic conferences where junior and senior high school researchers gather to present and discuss their research, serving as a gateway for future researchers.
The Faculty of Pharmacy has participated continuously as a partner university since 2019, presenting the "Keio University Faculty of Pharmacy Award" for outstanding presentations. Starting from this conference, the scale was expanded to a two-day event, creating a vibrant venue where many junior and senior high school students participated not only from across Japan but also from overseas.
At this conference, Professor Maiko Matsushita (Division of Clinical Physiology and Therapeutics) served as a judge for oral presentations and presented the "Keio University Faculty of Pharmacy Award" to Ms. Ayano Sasaki (Presentation Theme: Elucidation of Synthetic Pigment Transport Pathways in Silkworms).
At the Faculty of Pharmacy booth, with the cooperation of the Division of Biochemistry and the Division of Pharmaceutics, Professor Masatoshi Tomi (Division of Pharmaceutics) and graduate students answered questions from participants. In addition to displaying posters introducing the latest research, the booth featured an experiential exhibit using 3D puzzles to intuitively learn about the "mechanisms of drugs and receptors." Many students were seen eagerly asking questions with brochures in hand, and participants showed strong interest in the 3D puzzles.
The conference, which was attended by more than 900 people from Japan and abroad, concluded successfully as a venue for research presentations and exchange that transcended national borders.