According to LEE Jong-ho, president of the Taiwan Biological Industry Development Organization, Taiwan now has 111 listed bio ventures (including medical equipment). Most of them develop pharmaceutical products, and seven out of these 111 companies have a market capitalization of US $ 1 billion. Nearly half of the companies are developing new drugs. There are […]
Kyoto University reacts to fraud at CiRA: dismissal of researcher
An investigation committee of Kyoto University found Assistant Professor YAMAMIZU Kohei of CiRA guilty of scientific fraud (forgery of 11 main figures in an article) and dismissed him from his position. CiRA’s head, Professor Shinya YAMANAKA, being the direct supervisor of YAMAMIZU, issued a statement that he is aware of the responsibility that could not […]
RIKEN – Tohoku team prepars iPS-cell derived retinal ganglion cells
In Japan about 1 in 20 people over 40 years suffer from glaucoma – the number one cause of blindness. In order to study human retinal ganglion cells, a team around Masayo TAKAHASHI of RIKEN Kobe Institute and Toru NAKAZAWA of Tohoku University Medical School developed iPS cell-derived retinal tissue and isolated and purified retinal […]
Daiichi Sankyo signs into custom manufacturing by Hitachi Chemical for investigational cell products in Japan
Daiichi Sankyo has signed a contract with Hitachi Chemical to manufacture investigational cell products derived from iPS or somatic cells at Hitachi Kazei’s Yamazaki Plant in Yokohama. Hitachi Chemical formed in May 2017 in the US a a wholly-owned subsidiary, Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions, LLC, one of the largest US companies in the field […]
Smart drones in a 4G LTE network as airborne police: Japan
NEDO, KDDI, Teradrone and SECOM, utilizing a 4 G LTE standard, conducted security experiments on multiple autonomously flying drones in Kanagawa Prefecture and succeeded in remote patrol security. By remote monitoring of camera images installed in the drones from the operation control room, it was possible to identify suspicious individuals. It was also possible to […]
Fujitsu and RIKEN optimize lithium battery composition using AI
When a lithium electrolyte material was synthesized from three kinds of lithium-containing oxyacid salts, the optimum composition for realizing high lithium ion conductivity was predicted, using AI methods, and confirmed by experimental design. This is considered promising to develop new high-performance materials. Fujitsu news release, March 16, 2018
Kao Co. improves fumaric acid production in Rhizopus sp. by genome editing
A research team led by Kao’s Life Science Research Institute has developed a highly efficient homologous recombination procedure for Rhizopus sp., based on TALEN genomic editing with short-length single-stranded DNA. Using this technology, a pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc) gene behind an adh promoter was inserted into the Rhizopus genome, leading to 1,2-fold increase of fumaric acid […]
NEDO team succeeds in autonomous remote monitoring by drones
NEDO, KDDI, Teradrone and SECOM, utilizing a 4 G LTE standard, conducted security experiments on multiple autonomously flying drones in Kanagawa Prefecture and succeeded in remote patrol security. By remote monitoring of camera images installed in the drones from the operation control room, it was possible to identify suspicious individuals. It was also possible to […]
Kyoto Prefectural University reports clinical study on corneal endothelial cell transplantation against bullous keratopathy
Bullous keratopathy is a condition where corneal endothelial cells, which do not normally proliferate in vivo, are extensively impaired by trauma, disease, surgery or the like and do not longer maintain the transparency of the cornea, leading to edema and turbidity. Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and Doshisha University jointly expanded corneal endothelial cells derived […]
JST to support venture Kyulux Co. for further development of hyperfluorescence materials
Thermally activated delayed Fluorescence Materials (TADEFs) hold promise to further improve OLED-based designs. Kyulux is a Fukuoka-based startup founded by Chihaya ADACHI and has developed a new organic light emitting material that can convert energy of excitons to light with almost 100% efficiency without using rare metals, for low cost and high efficiency light emission, […]