An opening ceremony for the Center for One Medicine Innovative Translational Research (COMIT) was held on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

The center was established through partial realignments of Gifu University, and its major missions is to develop new forms of medical and therapeutic interventions or treatment for humans and animals. The center will offer a venue for researchers in medicine, veterinary, pharmaceutical sciences and engineering to freely interact for the development of new medicines and treatments (disease prevention, diagnostic purposes, etc.) for both humans and companion animals. COMIT'S collaboration with Nagoya University and Gifu Pharmaceutical University is expected to facilitate realization of COMIT missions.

The opening ceremony (conducted in the form of on-and-offline) was attended by a total of 238 people including MATSUO Seiichi, Chancellor of Tokai National Higher Education and Research System (THERS), university staff, researchers, students and company representatives (in-person meeting attended by 125 people, online meeting by 113 people).

Invited guests to the ceremony who delivered opening remarks are as follows:

- Mr. KURONUMA Ichiro, Research Promotion Bureau, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (MEXT)

- Mr. HORI Hiroyuki from Department of Health and Welfare, Gifu Prefectural Government, and

- Mr. TAKENAKA Touichi, former president and CEO of Astellas pharma Inc. (Mr. Takanaka is a graduate of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of Gifu University) - Dr. HARA Hideaki, President of Gifu Pharmaceutical University

After their remarks, Professor YABE Daisuke, Director of COMIT gave an overview about COMIT. Later, three speakers gave a lecture on their expertise. They are:

- Mr. TANAKA Kazushige from special institution for health and medicine, Cabinet Office who spoke about the roles of his institution serving as a "control tower" for the development of new medicines and medical equipment in Japan

- Mr. MIYAZAKI Tohru, President of General Incorporated Association Institute for AIM Medicine who gave a keynote speech about development and use of new medicines for kidney failures of humans and feline, and

- Professor MORI Takashi from the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences

We are committed to heightening Japan's standing in the world in producing effective new medicines from the viewpoint of "One Medicine," and spearheading the new academic field of "Sharing Medicine" for years to come.