JapanSaturday, May 18, 08:05NHK has learned that Japan’s Kyoto University plans to set up a research center for cancer immunotherapy to be headed by Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo.
Honjo, a distinguished professor at Kyoto University, jointly received last year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of a cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.
Sources say the university plans to make a budget request to the government to create the new center in the next school year.
Researchers are expected to undertake a wide range of activities from basic research to drug development, clinical applications and doctor training.
The new center will initially be set up in an existing facility, but the university aims to construct a dedicated building in five years.
The health ministry says the center will be Japan’s first comprehensive research and development base for cancer immunotherapy.