Category Archives: Takashi Tsuji

Kyocera, Organ Technologies, Primordium Method, RIKEN, Takashi Tsuji

Kyocera Branches out from Electronics into Hair Regeneration

294 Comments

Update: RIKEN added a brief summary of this development on its site and included the below photo on its home page:

Kyocera, Tsuji and Organ Partnership

 

Update: Commentator “sets” e-mailed Kyocera and got a response:

“Hello. My name is Hina Morioka from the Corporate Communications Division at Kyocera Corporation. Thank you very much for your question about our research with RIKEN and Organ Technologies.

Regarding timeline, we aim to put the technologies into practical use and make medical treatment available in 2020 in Japan (medical treatment at one’s own expense).”

I was planning on publishing an entirely different post today, but things continue moving along rapidly in the hair loss research world and you regularly encounter sudden usually pleasant surprises.  In the last post, commentator “Lewa” just brought to my attention that major Japanese electronics manufacturer Kyocera was entering the hair regeneration market via a collaboration with the government-affiliated RIKEN Institute in Japan (where the renowned Dr. Takashi Tsuji leads the hair related research department) and Organ Technologies in Japan (a company in which Dr. Tsuji is one of the directors).  In that article, I read that they plan to commence clinical trials BY 2020, but that they also planned to start their business IN 2020.  They will develop prototype equipment by March 2018.  Very ambitious and rapid progression targets, but if it can be done anywhere, it would be in Japan where the government is very supportive of expediting research.  With the addition of Kyocera into the mix, Dr. Tsuji now has access to funding that all other hair researchers around the world can only dream of.  The only other hair loss cure research related company with this kind of funding access is also based in Japan in the name of Shiseido.

At first I was only intending to mention the above development in my once a month “brief items of interest” post.  However, then I discovered an even better version of the above article on Kyocera’s website. This second article is far less ambiguous when it comes to the dates and therefore this development deserves its own post now.  Key quotes from the above second article:

“The companies aim to put the technologies into practical use in 2020.”

“Kyocera, RIKEN and Organ Technologies plan to establish cell culture and transplant technologies and develop devices for transplantation, aiming to put the technologies into practical use for the treatment of human alopecia in 2020 in Japan.”

Update: Forbes magazine now has a story on this news too.
Update: A brief Japan Times summary.

The division of labor between the partner companies will be as follows:

Kyocera = Development of cell processing devices via the utilization of its microfabrication and manufacturing technologies.

RIKEN and Organ Technologies = “Development of stem cell culture/amplification technologies, development of cell manipulation technologies, establishment of production processes, implementation of preclinical studies, etc.”

The technology (“regenerated follicular primordium” via a combination of epithelial stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells) being developed is outlined in the bottom part of the below image taken from Kyocera’s press release.  Top image shows a modern day FUT (strip) hair transplant procedure with limited donor hair supply limitations.

 

Tsuji, RIKEN and Kyocera hair regeneration method

Donald Trump, JAK Inhibitors, Prince William, RiverTown Therapeutics, Takashi Tsuji

A Busy Month in the World of Hair

333 Comments

Hair loss news first:

Very busy past month in the hair loss world.

Update: Dr. Neal Walker just presented for the final (third) time this month on June 22, 2016, this time at the JMP Securities Life Sciences Conference in New York. Two clear POSITIVE statements on JAK inhibitors and AGA:

Mr. Walker: “We do know that systemic JAK inhibitors do not work in this (=AGA) disorder, but topical does.”

Investor question: “So it would work for both types of alopecia:”

Mr. Walker: “Yes.”

— Allergan starts phase 2A clinical trials for Setipiprant this month. Study completion date is set as September 2017. They are going to be recruiting all over the US for volunteers.

— I am disappointed that in my last blog post, despite over 350 comments, there was essentially zero discussion of the two most salient points that I made:

  1. Commentator “nasa_rs”‘ blast from the past and its relevancy if any to JAK inhibitors works for both AA and AGA).
  2. Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA) being classified as an immune system problem in Daphne Zohar’s presentation slide on Follica (enlargeable slide is here under “Tracksterdam’s post). Yet, the same company’s co-founder Dr. Cotsarelis claimed to CNN in 2014 that AGA was not an immune system problem so JAK inhibitors were unlikely to work. The exact words in the CNN article: “Cotsarelis was adamant about it because male pattern baldness isn’t related to the immune system.“

— An interesting new interview with Dr. Takashi Tsuji. Not too much on hair, but nevertheless worth a read. Key part:

Interviewer question: “Speaking of hair loss, it was recently reported that you are working with a private company to development a treatment for using regenerative medicine to regrow hair. Will this be available soon?”

Dr. Tsuji’s answer: “I think it will. We have developed technology to grow hair follicles using stem cells, as hair follicles are one of the few organs where we always have stem cells ready. We hope to be able to start clinical trials in the next few years so that the treatment can move into the clinic.”

Having a mathematics background, I am biased and was pleased to read two quotes from Dr Tsuji: “Biological phenomena are governed by mathematics” and “I think that probably all of biology can be explained by math.”

— I hate to give Donald Trump’s hair any more coverage than has already been given by the media for years, but this new 10 page (!) article is pretty spectacular in its depth. The best ever analysis of Trump’s hair. I learnt a new hair loss industry term: “microcylinder intervention.”  The 25th floor in Trump Tower is apparently where all the hair action has been taking place for years.

— A new privately-held company named RiverTown Therapeutics claims to have a proprietary topical product called RT1640 that regrows hair and also darkens gray and white hair. They claim to have tested the product in seven humans so far. Way too few to garner any confidence, and the company does not seem to have a website as yet.

If the company’s CEO David Weinstein ever changes his Linkedin photo and suddenly has dark hair, I will follow the company more closely. The three agents that comprise RT1640 are supposedly very safe and together they promote “the reanimation of hair follicles through the recruitment and differentiation of follicular stem cells, including melanocyte stem cells.”

— New study from the UK on β-catenin signaling and hair follicle regeneration during wound healing.

— New study from China titled “Self-assembling peptide hydrogel scaffolds support stem cell-based hair follicle regeneration.”  Bit above my level of full understanding, but we have several expert readers.

— I have covered Dr. Kevin McElwee on this blog before. It seems like his lab at The University of British Columbia in Canada (plus others) might be doing some hair research for a new company named Avagenesis.

— Increasing rumors that Prince William is finally considering getting a hair transplant.

— US swimming superstar Katie Ledecky has been in the news a lot lately due to the approaching 2016 Rio Olympics. Her hairline is a hot topic of discussion online and recently Katie said “I have such short hair that they think I’m a little boy” in an interesting interview.

— A real life Rapunzel. Dashik Gubanova and her crazy long hair.

— Bulgarian soccer/football player Dimitar Berbatov gets a great hair transplant.

— Ending on a sad note. A really tragic hair transplant related death. Be very careful when you go abroad for low-cost hair transplants.

And now on to medical items of interest:

— An artificial heart for 555 days in a backpack prior to finally getting a heart transplant!  And the guy played basketball with it. More here.

— A story that some stroke patients were walking again after stem cell therapy at Stanford caused a lot of excitement recently, but some scientists remain skeptical.

— After all the hoopla surrounding the crazy Italian Dr. Sergio Canavero and his full body transplant (inaccurately called a head transplant) ambition, we now have similar plans emanating from China.

— More improvements in bionic hands. Mr. Hugh Herr will be pleased.

— Baby-making in the lab (instead of via sex) and eugenics. No longer far fetched.

— BBC Panaroma — Gene Editing. YouTube video is now removed from the US.

— Gene editing will change entire species forever.