Sapporo Higashi Tokushukai Hospital attached Clinical Research Center

Creation of the intelligence protecting the Life

Five years has past since “Clinical Research Center” has established at Sapporo Tokushukai Hospital for contributing for the advanced medical care.
Full-fledged Experiment facility has completed in summer of 2015. The circumstances to analyze several body sample including gene by itself and to proactively outgo as treatment information has enhanced.
With this completion, it can say that the circumstance where proactively took-in research oriented treatment can practically proceed, is in place.

We have been received recognition as a mission hospital:” Medical Care for the sake of Patient”, weighing the emergency medical care heavily.
But, not only clarification of clinical condition but also diagnosis in early stage and decision of appropriate therapeutic principle have several bottleneck issues yet, that it is of importance to overcome with research and development then to contribute ultimately for patient medical care.

In addition to our research activity at our Center, multicenter collaborated research activity will be accelerated by private company or hospital cooperation. It is inevitable to have stable source of funding and human resources to drive this operation forward. It becomes possible to challenge for obtaining the competitive Research Funds by the establishments of “Clinical Research Center”, and further, we have consolidated hospital organization in charge of research activity as “Clinical Test Center”, March 2017, to contribute in much broader area, like clinical trial or genome research, to the society. Also, to maintain Research organization ay higher level, we make “Medical Research Institute” as central core in Research Departments so that we will work out targeting the provision of higher medical care for intractable lesions, with utilizing flexibility and quick reaction capability at private medical corporation. Furthermore, we will build up strong collaboration relationship with Universities in area then to work out for enlightening medical research activity to junior doctors and/or hospital staff.

Interviews at Medical Research Institute

Please let me know about the background of the Tokushukai Medical Group Hospital’s first Research Center.

Dr. Yozo Shimizu, former Hospital Director of Sapporo Tokushukai Hospital, has an strong feelings on the significance and necessity of the person and himself in charge of medical Care. He has planned for long time for establishing research facility in the private hospitals. In 2012, Attached Clinical Research Center is authorized as Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology designated Research organization, so that his wishes move forward to realization.

Let me know of the struggled points from establishment to now.

Firstly, pathway to build-up organization structure. To correctly proceed clinical research activity, project needs to be formed, and other than leading doctors and medical staff, Clinical Coordinator who resolve ethical problem, making protocol plans, or progress management, Biological Statisticians who analyze the obtained data, Accountants who manage research funds, and Technicians in charge of experiments, are necessary. It has taken five years from the inauguration to secure human resources and to straighten out the organization structure. Human resource has not yet been enough, but based on the limited “resources”, we are able to make start of various research theme, with having university or private corporation’s physical support and cooperation. For the future, we wish to improve the environment in which we are able to obtain our activities in academic research as well as our medical care, with utilizing affiliated Graduate College structure.

Secondary, securement of research funds. To proceed research operation, research funds as economic base is inevitable. Till now, we have been supported by Science Research Funds delivered by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and public and private competitive research funds or subsidized operation, but it is hard to say they are enough. We nowadays are maintaining our activity basis in receiving great amount of investments from hospital which is in severe financial situation, for the fullness of research equipment, reagent expendables, labor cost, and so on to secure research expense. The issue for the future is to cement the relationship with Academy or private corporation to obtain greater amount of the budget for research and development.

What is the most significant research theme which is currently working on at Sapporo Tokushukai Hospital attached clinical research center?

We are currently working on more than 10 research themes regardless the size at Research Center per annum. In addition to the full-time research staff, our hospital doctors or graduate student from Hokkaido University or Asahikawa Medical University are attending to the research work. Especially, “Research in regards to less-invasive cancer diagnosis using blood”, multicenter clinical research started on 2014 (UMIN000012810), is a biggest research theme at this moment.

Making blood or urine as samples, so called Liquid Biopsy has an high expectancy as less-invasive cancer diagnose method. Using the ultrahigh sensitivity digital PCR method, we are working on the development of analytical package at low-cost, able to operate at actual clinical care. With the cooperation by, mainly digestive organ cancer, like bowel cancer, or pancreas cancer, breast cancer or lung cancer, we purifies the free nucleus acid and detect of a cancer, like KRS, related gene by digital PCR method.

Please let me know of the thing which Research Center is targeted for.

We aspire on the research and development work which can be an underlying support for advanced medical care which respond to the diversified medical needs, with strengthen the advantage of private hospital. We further plan for advancing research work with building up large scale network through the collaboration with Tokushukai Medical Group’s four research organizations, Medical Universities in Hokkaido, and further with private entity. It is our hope that we will share consciousness, saying “We are the one who opens the way for advanced medical care”, within entire hospital, then to provide outcomes to patients as earlier as possible.

Clinical Research