Abstract
In any research area, globalization is necessary for sharing the latest technology and knowledge. In particular, to achieve significant results in drug discovery, global collaboration among multiple research institutes is required. Meanwhile, there are fewer easy drug discovery targets, commonly referred to as low hanging fruit, for developing small molecule drugs; therefore, novel drug discovery targets and modalities are required. Case in point, I was working as a medicinal chemist for a domestic pharmaceutical company, but I decided to move to the US with the goal of working in a research environment focused on discovering novel drug discovery targets and new strategies to target them. In this column, I will elaborate on my research experience as a staff scientist at Scripps and the difference of research environment between industry/academia in Japan and the US and give my personal opinion on these differences.
