Rate My Professor Hidehito Urata

Hidehito Urata is a professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Osaka College of Pharmacy (1979–1983), a Master of Pharmacy from Osaka University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1983–1985), and a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from Osaka College of Pharmacy in 1985. Urata began his career as a researcher at Central Research Laboratories, Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. (1985–1987). He then joined Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences (formerly Osaka College of Pharmacy), serving as assistant professor (1994–1997) and professor from 2005 until 2021.

His research centers on nucleic acid chemistry, focusing on prodrug-type oligonucleotides and siRNAs responsive to reducing environments for enhanced cellular delivery and nuclease resistance, such as REDUCT-siRNA and apoB-targeted siRNA for treating homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Urata has advanced metal-mediated base pairs in DNA, including thymine–Hg^II–thymine and cytosine–Ag^I–cytosine pairs, investigating their enzymatic recognition by DNA polymerases and primer extension reactions. He also develops amphipathic helical peptides containing α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) conjugated to cyclic RGD for targeted siRNA and microRNA delivery. Notable awards include the Encouragement Award from the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Kinki Branch (1993) and the national Encouragement Award (1999). Key publications encompass "Regulated Incorporation of Two Different Metal Ions into Programmed Sites in a Duplex by DNA Polymerase Catalyzed Primer Extension" (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014), "Structures, physicochemical properties, and applications of T-Hg^II-T, C-Ag^I-C, and other metallo-base-pairs" (Chem. Commun., 2015), "Prodrug-Type Phosphotriester Oligonucleotides with Linear Disulfide Promoieties Responsive to Reducing Environment" (ChemBioChem, 2023), and "Rational design of prodrug-type apoB-targeted siRNA for nuclease resistance improvement without compromising gene silencing potency" (Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2024). Leading multiple JSPS KAKENHI grants, Urata's contributions, documented in over 99 publications with 1,692 citations, have influenced nucleic acid therapeutics and DNA nanotechnology.