Takahiro Ono (D2), Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, received Pacifichem 2021 Student Research Competition Winners

On 18th December 2021, Takahiro Ono (D2), Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology, received Pacifichem 2021 Student Research Competition Winners.

Pacifichem 2021 Student Research Competition Winners
Winners of the Student Research Competition were chosen from over 1,400 undergraduate and graduate student submissions in each of the Pacifichem congress topic areas. These winners were judged on their abstract and presentation based on the quality of science and presentation.

About awarded research
Peptides have been expected as drug candidates. However, their low membrane permeability is limiting the utility of peptides for drug discovery. To solve this problem, we focused on hydrogen to fluorine substitution as a method to increase the membrane permeability of peptides. We synthesized fluorine-containing peptides and evaluated the membrane permeability of peptides. These results showed hydrogen to fluorine substitution can increase membrane permeability of peptides 72-fold at most. This achievement was published as a paper (T. Ono et al., Org. Biomol. Chem. 2021, 19, 9386–9389).

Your impression & future  plan
I am very honored to receive this prestigious award at an international conference. I would like to express my gratitude to the members of Sando Laboratory and Fluoroorganic Chemistry Laboratory, who have given me a lot of guidance and discussions since my fourth year as an undergraduate student. I will continue to do my best to contribute to the progress of membrane permeability research.