After obtaining a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo in 1998 he established-at Saitama Medical University in 2004 a dual fluorescently labeled mouse model capable of tracking beta-cell differentiation, as well as a pancreatic endocrine progenitor cell line these tools were utilized to identify reprogramming factors Keystone Symposia 2006 2008 oral presentations and the Best Poster Award at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research. From 2009 to 2011 he conducted research at the Salk Institute in the United States Wylie Vale's Lab where he mastered the expertise required to handle human pancreatic islets. Serving as an Associate Professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University 2019 and later as a Specially Appointed Professor at Juntendo University 2021 he formulated a unique hypothesis regarding cell fate conversion factors and pioneered the development of direct reprogramming DR technology Best Poster Award at the International Frontier RCGM Symposium 2016 invited lectures at the Kyoto Diabetes Mini Symposium 2017 and the European Endocrinology & Diabetes Congress Plenary Speaker in 2022 and 2024 In 2025 he assumed the position of Professor of Diagnosis and Therapeutics for Intractable Diseases at Juntendo University.  

Unmet Challenges in Type 1 Diabetes and the Promise of Next-Generation Therapeutics Diabetes mellitus is a rapidly growing global health challenge, affecting nearly 600 million adults worldwide, including approximately 2.5 million in Vietnam. While type 2 diabetes is primarily characterized by insulin resistance and progressive β cell dysfunction type 1 diabetes T1D results from autoimmune destruction of insulin producing pancreatic β cells and requires lifelong insulin replacement. Despite major advances in insulin therapy and glucose monitoring, achieving stable physiological glucose control remains challenging and severe hypoglycemia can lead to loss of consciousness or coma. Pancreatic islet transplantation can restore endogenous insulin secretion but is limited by donor shortage, immune rejection and the need for long-term immunosuppression. Recent advances in pluripotent stem cell-derived islet therapy have demonstrated the remarkable potential of regenerative medicine yet challenges remain in manufacturing transplantation long-term engraftment, immune protection, and cost.  As an alternative strategy, we are developing Direct cell Reprogramming DR which generates insulin-producing cells from somatic cells directly without passing through a pluripotent state. This session will discuss the unmet challenges in T1D and emerging regenerative and novel therapy strategies aimed at moving diabetes treatment from lifelong insulin replacement toward restoration of endogenous insulin production.