In collaboration with GEWO housing Co. of Speyer City, a NEDO consortium including NTT, DoCoMo and Hitachi will operate a „smart community demonstration project“ based on Japan’s superior photovoltaic, heat pump and power storage technology and a combination of information and communication technology. NEDO news release, May 31, 2016
Softbank starts crowdfunding project on blood-less glucose sensing
The glucose sensor (proposed brand name: KETTO) will be based on „a plurality of sensors“ and determines the glucose level in blood within 60 sec without pricking Nikkei Biotech news release, May 31, 2016
RIKEN team prepares 12 µm thin glass fluidic chip
The group around Yo TANAKA at RIKEN Yokohama has prepared an ultra thin flexible fluid chip from glass using ultra-short pulse laser technology which allowed to carve a groove structure with a high degree of accuracy in ultra-thin glass. The light-weight device is expected to be used in personalized medicine and life-science research. RIKEN news […]
University of Tokyo team succeeds in Euglena breeding for high-oil variants
The group of Keisuke GODA at the University of Tokyo obtained Euglena mutants which produced up to 18 % of lipids using heavy ion beam irradiation at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science as a tool to induce mutagenesis, followed by cell sorting after BODIPY staining. This work is considered an important step in […]
NEDO starts development of common platform car battery
The program aims to develop a common EV storage system for cars which by 20130 achieves the same mileage as gasoline-powered cars today. Contractors are Sony, Toyota Motor, Toyota central Research Laboratory, Nissan Motor, Panasonic, Hitachi Chemical, Hitachi, Hitachi Maxell, Honda Technical Research Institute, Mitsubishi Motors and about 20 universities, RIKEN and national research centers. […]
NEDO tests payment based on fingerprint identification
In collaboration with Sunshine City Prince Hotel and its shops, NEDO is testing a system where a guest, after identification by passport and fingerprint, can settle bills just by leaving his/her fingerprint biometrics. The technical side of the project is run by Liquid Co. (Liquid Finger-Print Payment) and by KDDI phone company. NEDO news release, […]
iHeart Japan raises 700 mill Yen from venture companies
The spin-out company of Kyoto University which developed iPS-derived heart muscle cells based on the research results of Jun Yamashita of CiRA has obtained this funding mainly by Realtek which is run by Euglena capital, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Japan Tobacco and others Nikkei Biotech news release, May 17, 2016
Takara Bio to acquire US WaferGen Bio-systems Inc. for up to 50 mill USD
WaferGen, Inc. sells an analyzer and reagent kits for single cell research, based on real-time PCR. The system is useful for the analysis of trace amount of DNA in specimens from pharmaceutical companies or for clinical testing labs. The acquisition will be done by the US subsidiary Takara Bio USA Holdings. Takara Bio news release, […]
Kobe Port Island plans to take first steps towards a hydrogen-powered city by 2018
The program which is executed by a consortium including Obayashi Co., Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kansai Electric Power, the City of Kobe and others will set up a1000 kilowatts-based turbine initially running on hydrogen and natural gas at a ratio of 2:8. The power supply of this system will support 10.000 people at work. China Bio […]