National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine帯広畜産大学原虫病研究センター

Trypanosomosis and other parasitic diseases are animal and human diseases that are mainly a problem in developing countries. While working in Mongolia as my main research field, I saw for the first time livestock suffering from trypanosomosis and farmers, and once again felt the need to control this disease. I have established an efficient method for culture acclimation of field strains of trypanosomes that infect animals, and have succeeded in establishing several new trypanosome strains. By clarifying the genetic characteristics, pathogenicity, and drug susceptibility of these field strains, I expect to establish effective countermeasures against trypanosomosis in endemic countries. I also aim to develop new therapeutic agents for animal trypanosomosis, for which no effective treatments and prophylactic strategy, and are focusing on the discovery of compounds with anti-trypanosome activity and the evaluation of their therapeutic effects. In recent years, I have also been studying blood-sucking insects (especially blood-sucking horseflies, which are a nuisance on farms) that mechanically transmit many pathogens, including trypanosomes, and greatly reduce livestock productivity due to the pain caused by blood-sucking and the large amount of blood sucked. Currently, our research field is not limited to Mongolia, but has been expanded to other Asian and African countries, with the aim of controlling blood-sucking insect-borne animal diseases such as animal trypanosomosis.