The allogenic cells were selected from a same donor type stocked at the iPS cell bank of CiRA, expanded at RIKEN’s CDB, and transplanted at Kobe City Medical Center into a 60-year-old male’s right eye. The patient suffers from age-related macular degeneration in the retina, with early symptoms of vision loss. RIKEN CDB news release, […]
Keio University School of Medicine will establish “AI Medical Center”
The center will be a base for promoting medical applications of artificial intelligence (AI), such as diagnosis based on radiographic images, pathological images, vital data and bed control (hospital bed management). Nikkei Biotech news release, March 29, 2017
Nature Index sees stall of Japan’s scientific research in the last decade
Among the scientific papers included in the Nature Index, the proportion of papers posted from Japan declined by 6% from 2012 to 2016. The number of papers by Japanese authors has decreased by 8.3%. In addition, the contribution of Japan in the same period has declined by 19.6%. As a cause of this, Nature cites […]
Japanese steel consortium reduces CO2 emissions in steelmaking by eventually 30 %
Within a NEDO-sponsored consortium, 5 Japanese steelmakers have done experiments in a test blast furnace of 12 m3 using a technology where the amount of coke required for reduction is reduced by substituting hydrogen. Using this technology, CO2 emissions from the blast furnace and CO2 separation from blast furnace gas can lead to a reduction […]
Osaka University team develops personalized sleep control based on AI
Using multiple machine learning methods, the group of Kenichi FUKUI extracted sleep-related environmental sounds with high accuracy, mapping them to a two-dimensional plane according to their characteristics. By associating these sounds with individual sleep patterns such as bruxism, body movement or snoring, it is concluded that technologies can be developed which lead to high-quality sleep, […]
JST project group develops drone-based hidden relay technology for interference-proof protection of objects
In this system, drones share authentic random numbers as encryption keys with ground stations prior to takeoff, and encrypt control and data communications on a one-time pad encrypted for each packet, thus completely concealing their communication. By arranging multiple photographing and relay drones properly, confidential networks can be set-up in a wide area and instantly, […]
UT-Heart Institute has applied for clinical trial in summer 2017
The simulation system for heart surgery is a joint-venture of Fujifilm and the University of Tokyo. It reproduces a personal heart model from medical data to make a rational diagnosis based on the mechanism of disease. A variety of treatments is done by simulation so that we the best way to cure can be chosen. […]
NEDO starts large-scale storage battery demonstration project in Lower Saxony
On March 19 at CeBIT, an MOU between EWE-Verband and Hitachi/NGK Insulators was signed, under the auspices of BMWi and NEDO, on a Large Scale Hybrid Storage Battery System Demonstration Project. Technology is based on Hitachi Chemical’s lithium-ion battery and NAS® batteries of NGK Insulators and will be used to adjust the electricity supply-demand balance […]
Germany and Japan sign MOU on mutual support of R&D between companies
The MOU was signed among METI and BMWi on March 19 at CeBIT in Hannover and aims to promote open innovation among Japanese and German companies, accelerating the enhancement of industrial competitiveness of both countries NEDO news release, March 21, 2017
Nippon Shokubai and Kobe University improve butanol fermentation to 85 mol% by genome editing
Starting with an ATCC strain of Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum, one gene (pta) involved in intron splicing was removed, and another gene (ptb 1) was modified by protein desing. The resulting homobutanol fermenting strain produced n-butanol with 85 mol% yield compared to 55 mol% of the parent strain. Nippon Shokubai is Japan’s largest producer of super adsorbent […]