Masatake Yamazaki (M1), Department of Chemical System Engineering, received SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Excellent Student Award

On 17th March 2026, Masatake Yamazaki (M1), Department of Chemical System Engineering, received SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Excellent Student Award.

Masatake Yamazaki on the far left of the front row

SCEJ 91st Annual Meeting, Excellent Student Award

Among poster presentations by students, the research and presenters were comprehensively evaluated by industry, academia, and government judges, and were awarded to those who were in the top 12% of all the presenters.

About awarded research
The research title is “Analysis of the Cancer Metabolism with Novel Physiological in vitro Culture System”. 
Cancer cells have different metabolic characteristics from normal cells, known as “cancer metabolism”. Although targeting cancer metabolism has become a major focus of drug development, only a limited number of effective therapies have been established. Recently, some reports have identified non-physiological conditions in conventional in vitro culture systems as a major limitation. In this study, we constructed a novel in vitro cell culture system that can reproduce the in vivo environment in aspects of oxygen supply and culture medium composition. By analyzing of the metabolism of hepatic cancer cells in this system, we observed features that were not captured in conventional culture systems, suggesting that this approach may lead to the development of novel cancer therapies.

Your impression & future plan
I am deeply honored to have received this award. Thanks to the generous support of all staffs and the members of the Sakai-Nishikawa laboratory. I will never forget my gratitude to everyone, and I intend to continue to devote myself to this research in the future.