Professor /
Johji Kato I am Johji Kato, a professor of the Frontier Research Center at the University of Miyazaki. It has been more than 7 years since “Message from the Professor” was renewed, and in addition, what happened to me this year is “Kan-reki”, which means 60th birthday related to the animal zodiac. Coming up to this, I renew the message with my picture taken recently.
I am an MD practicing cardiovascular medicine, while my research work has focused on bioactive peptides/substances and regulation of function of the heart and blood vessels. My career as a researcher began in 1985, when I entered the Graduate School of Medicine at Miyazaki Medical College. Since then, I have been working on bioactive peptides/substances and regulation of blood pressure and fluid balance. Characteristic research on natriuretic peptides and adrenomedullin has been done in the Faculty of Medicine University of Miyazaki. The natriuretic peptides ANP and BNP are now widely used in diagnosing and treating patients with heart failure, and although isolated from pheochromocytoma, adrenomedullin was found to be clinically useful as a therapeutic tool by clarifying its inhibitory actions on cardiovascular remodeling and inflammation. Thus, we should be able to develop innovative methods in clinical diagnoses and treatments by identifying unknown peptide/substance and by clarifying their functions. My motto is to do research, even not the best one, but the only one, contributing the field of diagnostic or therapeutic medicine. I very much enjoy sharing such excitement about science with everyone interested in this field, or with anyone who plans to start his or her career as a researcher.

September 2018