6 Dual Credit ACC LASA students have been selected for the Sakura Science Exchange Program from the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

For this program, these 6 students and Biotech Instructor Joseph Oleniczak will travel to Tokyo, Japan to conduct a research project during the Spring 2023 semester. Specifically, students will research clinical trials and drug development by analyzing experimental procedures, experimental data, and contrasting average drug responses in both the U.S. and Japan. Through this analysis, students hope to gain an understanding of how the field of biotechnology pharmaceutic development and clinical trials differ between Japan and the U.S.

These research efforts will be supported by our Japanese host organization Pfizer Japan Regulatory Affairs & Development Department. By consulting with professional researchers at Pfizer Japan and using anonymized data for clinical studies conducted in both the U.S. and Japan, student research will determine trends between different populations in terms of drug responses, considering variables such as adverse reactions and dosages. Students will also visit with biotech researchers at Kitasato University and the PDMA (Japanese equivalent of the FDA). Lastly, ACC LASA Biotechnology students intend to write a comprehensive research paper based on the outcomes from this research that will be submitted for publication to the International Journal of High School Research.

The students participating in this experience are Jay Campanell, Richa Kalari, Gabriel Keller, Amelise Morrson, Sophie Sun, and Zachary Suri. All 6 of these Dual Credit ACC LASA students will be graduating in May 2023 with a Level I Certificate in Biotechnology from ACC.