Rate My Professor Akira Yamamoto

Professor Akira Yamamoto is a Professor in the Department of Biopharmaceutics at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, a position he has held since 1998. He earned his Ph.D. in Basic Pharmaceutics from Kyoto University in 1987 under the supervision of Professor H. Sezaki. Following his doctoral studies, he served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California for one and a half years from 1987 to 1989, focusing on the mucosal delivery of peptide and protein drugs. Earlier in his career, Yamamoto worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University from 1983 to 1990, and then as an associate professor in Biopharmaceutics at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University from 1991 to 1997. His academic journey also includes completing his Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Science from Kyoto University.

Yamamoto's research centers on improving the absorption of poorly absorbable drugs, particularly peptide and protein drugs, via intestinal, mucosal, colon-specific, and pulmonary routes. Key areas include the use of absorption enhancers, P-glycoprotein modulators to enhance transport and absorption of substrates, chitosan capsules for colon-specific delivery of peptides and anti-inflammatory drugs, and strategies to boost pulmonary absorption of insulin and calcitonin with enhancers and protease inhibitors. He has authored over 198 research articles, 77 book chapters, 61 reviews, and more than 100 congress proceedings. His contributions have earned prestigious awards, such as the Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics Award for Young Scientists (1996), Pharmaceutical Society Award for Divisional Scientific Promotion (2001), Nagai Award of the Japanese Society of Drug Delivery System (2006), Takeru and Ayako Higuchi Memorial Award (2017), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization Director General Award (2016), and Japan Academy of Pharmacy Award (2021). Notable publications include "Orthogonal characterization and pharmacokinetic studies of polylactide-polyethyleneglycol polymeric nanoparticles with different physicochemical properties" (International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2021), "L-Serine-Modified Poly-L-Lysine as a Biodegradable Renal Targeting Carrier" (Pharmaceutics, 2022), and "Efficient Transdermal Delivery of Alendronate, a Nitrogen-Containing Bisphosphonate, Using Tip-Loaded Dissolvable Microneedle Arrays" (Pharmaceutics, 2017).