Unit Head
Takanori Koike, Ph.D.
Dr. Koike worked in drug discovery research as a medicinal chemist in the areas of oncology, metabolic disorders, urology, and immunology, and discovered 7 clinical candidates. He has been a member of the Microglia Research Unit since its launch and has led several in-house research projects as well as research collaborations. He assumed the present position in August 2022.
Scientific Director
Kengo Saba, Ph.D.
Dr. Saba has been involved in drug discovery research as a pharmacologist in the areas of infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases, rare diseases, and central nervous system diseases. He has more than 20 years of experience in innate immunology research, and discovered 3 clinical candidates.
Patent
WO/2021/193897, PCT/JP2021/012773, (EN) SUBSTITUTED PYRIDAZINE COMPOUND
[Novel NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors]