The DNA of Entrepreneurial Mindset: We Are Samurai—We Make No Compromises on Quality / Shunmei Chiba, FullStem Co., Ltd.
Shunmei Chiba spearheads FullStem Co., Ltd. (FullStem), the startup with high-density and large-scale stem cell culture technology. But who is he really? We learned about the brain surgeon’s personal side and his aspirations.
Written by the Universe Editorial Team
In “The DNA of Entrepreneurial Mindset,” we pick a startup entrepreneur who is currently in the limelight to find out their current values and mindset from various angles.
Featured in this article is Shunmei Chiba, CEO of FullStem Co., Ltd., a company that commercializes high-density and large-scale stem cell culture technology.
Shunmei Chiba
While performing surgeries and seeing patients as a brain surgeon, Shunmei started research on regenerative medicine at graduate school, aiming to become a brain surgeon who can cure the incurable. He studied at Colorado State University in the US from 2002, where he developed mass cell culture technology using human embryonic stem cells and applied cell therapy to animal models. After returning to Japan, he continued to wear two hats as a doctor and a researcher. He founded FullStem in 2016, bringing on his achievement in Okinawa Prefecture’s large-scale research and development project, where he leveraged his experience in Colorado and laid the foundation for large-scale stem cell culture technology using non-woven fabrics.
──What made you start a company?
In every corner of the medical world, people will be on a constant lookout for regenerative medicine as a new type of treatment. This is a field that will continue to develop even more. However, for regenerative medicine to function like ordinary drugs used nowadays, we need to mass produce stem cells which constitute the core of regenerative medicine and do so while maintaining the quality. In other words, I felt that regenerative medicine will not become widespread without an appropriate cell culture infrastructure built by doctors who are the users. I decided to start my own company with the conviction that my technological capabilities, knowledge, and experience were needed here.
──How do you face failures and setbacks?
To start undertaking the research and development project which gave birth to our fundamental technology, I had no choice but to give up my position as an academic researcher. At that time, I consulted the head of my alma mater who was also a doctor and a mentor for me, who asked me, “Which do you value more, keeping your position at the university or doing something fulfilling?” I was able to make full commitment to research and development thanks to this, which is why I always value the ties with people around me.
Commercializing automated culture technology proved to be extremely challenging, given my ignorance of engineering. So I decided to change our approach. Instead of going the normal way which is to start by thinking “how we can automate existing culture technology,” we reversed our thinking to start with a problem-statement, which was, “how can we generate the amount of cells we need and how can we develop automated culture technology for practical use?” In the end, we chose a method that did not negatively impact the cells.
As a result, we succeeded in developing a highly practical product with a unique technology that is like no other. I want to continue to value the mindset of changing perspectives and thinking through and through instead of giving up or assuming something is impossible.
──What are your non-negotiables?
Understanding every single aspect of something instead of memorizing it. Drawing a clear line between things I want to be committed to and things I don’t. For things I am committed to, I never allow any compromises for myself or others.
It is very simple. You cannot memorize everything and no one is perfect including me. If you cannot highlight whatever you can excel in, you will never succeed. This is how I see things.
──Can you explain your team in one phrase?
We are samurai who honor the spirit of Bushido, the code of conduct of the samurai. I consider ourselves as a team of people who make no compromises on quality and what we offer.
──How do you recharge yourself when you feel tired mentally and physically?
Sauna bathing and cold plunging, going to hot springs, and playing golf.
──What drives you forward?
My motivation to contribute to many patients from a medical perspective with the technology that I developed.
──What does it take to become a CEO?
Not being obsessed with the image of an ideal CEO. Working with others and leveraging the company’s assets, and staying true to your original intentions, heading toward the ideal or goal that you want to achieve.
──Lastly, please share your aspirations.
To make the culture method using non-woven fabrics a golden standard in cell culture for treatment purposes.
Regenerative medicine is a next-gen advanced medical technology as we all know, but I see it as the 3rd medicine that lies between Oriental (Traditional Chinese) medicine and Western medicine. As with crude drugs used in Chinese medicine, regenerative medicine uses the power of stem cells to improve body conditions. Therefore, the quality of the stem cells are most important for the treatment to be effective.
However, because stem cells are currently only cultured manually, there is a limit to the quality and quantity of cells that can be produced. I think the only solution to this problem is a culture system using non-woven fabrics as a 3D scaffold, which has qualities similar to the human body’s internal environment.
Also, doctors in general are not that knowledgeable about Chinese medicine and the same can be said of regenerative medicine. In the past, Chinese medicine could not be mass-produced and the quality was uneven. However, some pharmaceutical companies are now selling Chinese medicine as pharmaceuticals while maintaining a certain level of quality. We want to be like them in the stem cell field. My dream is to offer appropriate stem cell technology to pharmaceutical companies and doctors in various different clinics to contribute to a world where anyone can benefit from regenerative medicine treatment wherever they are.
FullStem Co., Ltd.
FullStem offers mass stem cell culture technology, equipment, and cultivation kits for treatment purposes. Recently, the startup also began a service targeting clinics to analyze and offer exosomes derived from the mass-produced stem cells using their proprietary technology. FullStem, equipped with its small and highly practical automated culture system built based on its high-density culture technology, aims to build a world where anyone can benefit from regenerative medicine wherever they are.