My name is Eikan Mishima, and I have assumed the position of Professor in the Division of Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, as of April 1, 2026.
Our division has a long and distinguished history, tracing its origins to the Department of Hygiene, which has been established at Tohoku University for over a century. In response to evolving societal needs, the field has continued to expand. Under Professor Hiroshi Sato, our predecessor, research in environmental health sciences advanced to address the health effects of heavy metals such as methylmercury. More recently, under Professor Takaaki Akaike, studies on biological redox systems and reactive sulfur species have further deepened our scientific scope. Through these successive developments, our division has achieved multifaceted progress spanning from basic science to translational research.
Building upon this rich history and tradition, our goal in the coming era is to comprehensively elucidate how environmental factors influence human health and disease, integrating insights from the molecular to the organismal level, and to translate these findings into advances in medicine and healthcare. In particular, we focus on key areas including cell death (ferroptosis), redox regulation, oxidative stress, and drug discovery, aiming to further advance the field of environmental medicine.
After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at Tohoku University in 2006, I completed my clinical training at Osaki Citizen Hospital and The University of Tokyo Hospital. I subsequently engaged in both clinical and basic research in the Division of Nephrology, Endocrinology and Vascular Medicine at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Sadayoshi Ito and Dr. Takaaki Abe. During this period, my research focused on renal hemodynamics, hypertension, uremic toxins, and kidney–gut microbiota interactions, which led me to a strong interest in the role of oxidative stress in disease initiation and progression.
While investigating the biological impact of oxidative stress, I became particularly interested in ferroptosis—a form of regulated cell death driven by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, which had just begun to emerge as a new concept at that time. Since then, ferroptosis has become one of my central research themes. From 2020 to 2026, I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Marcus Conrad at the Helmholtz Munich in Germany, a leading institution in ferroptosis research, where I focused on elucidating its regulatory mechanisms and exploring therapeutic applications. Our work has been published in leading international journals, including Nature (2022, 2023), Molecular Cell (2024), Nature Metabolism (2024), and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2025), contributing to the advancement of this field.
Ferroptosis represents a form of cell death arising from the three essential elements for life: iron, oxygen, and lipids. While life depends on these elements, they simultaneously promote lipid peroxidation and thus carry an inherent risk of inducing cell death. In this sense, living systems exist in close proximity to death, maintaining homeostasis through finely tuned regulatory mechanisms. Disruption of this balance contributes to a wide range of diseases, making ferroptosis a fundamental topic for understanding the principles of life. Moreover, modulation of ferroptosis holds significant promise for medical applications. For example, induction of ferroptosis may offer new therapeutic strategies in cancer, whereas its inhibition may be beneficial in conditions such as organ injury and neurodegenerative diseases.
Looking ahead, our division aims not only to advance ferroptosis research but also to explore a broader spectrum of redox-related biological phenomena and to identify novel, as yet uncharacterized forms of cell death. Through these efforts, we seek to pioneer new frontiers in life sciences. Drawing upon my background as a clinician, I am committed to integrating basic and clinical research to deepen our understanding of the relationship between environment and health, and to translate these insights into tangible societal benefits.
April 2026
Eikan Mishima