Rate My Professor Shoichiro Asayama

Shoichiro Asayama is a Professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry at Tokyo Metropolitan University, where he leads the Asayama Laboratory focused on biomaterials and drug delivery systems. He earned his Doctor of Engineering degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His research centers on the development of polymer-based carriers for delivering nucleic acids, antioxidants, and other therapeutic molecules, with an emphasis on improving human health and quality of life through interdisciplinary approaches combining chemistry and life sciences. Asayama has contributed to the synthesis of novel polyampholyte copolymers, PEG-modified systems, and pH-responsive carriers for gene delivery applications in vitro and in vivo.

Throughout his career at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Asayama has held appointments including roles supporting urban environmental sciences initiatives. He has received multiple honors, such as the 2023 Main Professor appointment at the Faculty of Urban Environmental Sciences, the 2016 Tokyo U-club Research Encouragement Award, the 2012 Japan Biomaterials Society Scientific Encouragement Award, and several poster and presentation awards from international biomaterials and DDS conferences. Key publications include recent works on cholesterol-end-modified PEG vesicles for drug encapsulation (2024), diethylamino end-modified PEG for pDNA complexes (2024), and guanidinium-dendrimer-type pDNA carriers (2023), alongside earlier highlight reviews on polymer-based plasmid DNA delivery systems (2020). Asayama serves on editorial boards and committees for societies including the Japan Biomaterials Society, the Japanese Society of Polymer Science, and the Porphyrin-ALA Society, and has organized sessions at academic meetings on topics such as future medical polymers. His work advances biomaterial design for targeted delivery and cellular applications.