News On Japan

Teeth regrowth: Scientists develop a groundbreaking new drug to create a new set of teeth

Aug 15, 2023 (nationalworld.com) - A groundbreaking drug which will allow humans to grow teeth is now heading to human trials.

Researchers in Japan are developing a medicine that will enable people to regrow their teeth to replace the ones that get lost.

Clinical human trials will commence in 2024 after the researchers have already proven it can trigger tooth growth in mice and ferrets.

Dr Katsu Takahashi, head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital, has been working on the drug since his graduate student days, in the early nineties.

The research team has already successfully grown a "third-generation" of teeth, after the first round baby teeth and then permanent adult teeth was successful in animal models. Researchers targeted a gene called USAG-1, which has been found to limit tooth growth in mice. Takahashi’s team induced tooth regrowth in mice and ferrets. ...continue reading

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Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

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