Window to Japan
In this international demonstration project, NEDO will commission the development of robots which can be used in disaster recovery and humanitarian assistance. Japan builds the program on experiences with the great eastern earthquake in 2011. NEDO news release, July 31, 2014
In experiments with synthetic alkane benzene sulfonates (ABS), it was shown that addition of 1 % of surfactin, a biosurfactant isolated from, e. g., Bacillus natto, allowed to reduce the synthetic surfactant by 90 % without loosing overall surfactant activity JST news release, July 31, 2014
The group of Shoji Takeuchi at the University of Tokyo prepared a PDMS-based hydrogel microchamber in which selected recombinant insect odor receptors were embedded. The micromachined system allowed to detect VOCs by changes in electric potential and was stable for about 1 hour. This work is part of an ERATO project. JST news release, July […]
The targets of the new institute will be total healthcare systems (MEMS), stem cell technology and in-vitro clinical testing based on “organs on a chip”. 8 Faculty members of the University of Tokyo will participate in the center. Director is Professor Yasuyuki SAKAI Nikkei Biotech, July 25, 2014
In collaboration with Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Takara Bio studies NK (natural killer) cells induced by RetroNectin for cancer immunotherapy. At the 12th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology, a collaborating group from Mie University School of Medicine reported that 3 out of 10 patients had shown long-term survival rates. Takara […]
The Japanese consortium was formed from NIAS, Kyoto University, Yokohama City Univeersity, Kihara Institute, with participation of a company, Nisshin Flour Milling. Nikkei Biotech news release, July 18, 2014
Fujifilm Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Institute has developed an RCD-peptide derived from collagen which can be used for cell expansion and tissue scaffolding. Fujifilm website
The 800 page summary contains chapters on 1. aging such as power assist robot, robot therapy, nursing and other care robot, 2. robots to counter the hollowing out of industry such as mining unmanned systems, unmanned construction etc, 3. social Infrastructure maintenance such as underwater robot, tunnel digging robots, cavity research systems, etc., and 4. […]
The group around Yuko KUSAKABE has analyzed sweet taste receptors T1r2 and T1r3 of human and mouse origin and their coupling with G-type receptors. In humans and mice, the mechanism of sweet-taste reception is different and it is hoped to use this knowledge for the construction of an objective sweet-taste evaluation method. NARO press release, […]
The “Oligomer Polyphenol” is a low-molecular weight catechin obtained from lychees and used as a functional food material which keeps a high polyphenol level in blood over several hours. AminoUp Chemical website