In the concept car, which is jointly developed by Toray, Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo Chemical, AGC, Bridgestone, polymers will constute 47 % of the car, reducing the vehicle weight to 850 kg. The car has an egg-shaped cabin and a separate front wheel cover, a large window area, and a large opening door. The interior of […]
Toray designs improved carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP)
By combining molecular design and structural analysis supported by universities and proprietary nano alloy technology owned by Toray, a research team at the company succeeded in uniformly dispersing a polyrotaxane circular polymers in the matrix resin of CFRP at the nanoscale. While maintaining the high strength and rigidity of CFRP, the new material was about 3fold […]
University of Tokyo and RIKEN team develops solar cell-driven skin-attached ECG measurement device
The wearable sensor was jointly developed by a team at RIKEN and the University of Tokyo. A periodic nano-grating structure was achieved on an ultra-thin substrate with a thickness of 1 μm, a height of several tens of nm and a period of about 700 nm. This periodic nanograting structure adjusts the refractive index of […]
Braizon Therapeutics Co. delivers drugs across the blood-brain barrier
The Tokyo-based startup company, has developed glucose-modified polymeric micelles that interact with glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and thus allow to transport drugs through the BBB to the brain. Braizon Therapeutics URL http://www.braizon.com/en/technology/index.html
Veritas In Silico Co. targets low molecular weight drugs interacting with cellular nucleic acids
The Tokyo-based company was established in November 2016 with the aim to find new therapies based on low-molecular weight drug discovery targeting nucleic acids. Investment is from several Mitsubishi Group companies. VIS URL http://www.veritasinsilico.com/index.html
MHLW approves clinical research on autologous iPS cell-derived blood platelets
The doctor-initiated study will be conducted with one patient with aplastic anemia with platelet transfusion failure complication. Production of platelets are done from the patient’s (autologous) iPS cells through megakaryocyte cells, a method developed by Hiroyuki ETO of CiRA. In his method, hematopoietic progenitor cells are induced from iPS cells and in a complex procedure […]
Hitachi starts cloud-based energy management demonstration system in Slovenia
Hitachi will establish and demonstrate “cloud-type energy management system (AEMS)” which will avoid power outage and secure electric power quality at factories through countermeasures against instantaneous voltage drop. Partnership is between the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia and NEDO, Japan (the project management organization of the Ministry of Trade, Economics and Industry […]
Japan’s bio-related national budget requests in 2019 are around 2 billion € (223.5 billion Yen), increase in medical and environmental fields
Some of the features are: AMEDs budget may increase by 20 % and include a new program on „brain and mental health“. METI plans for a big-budget „Medical Device and System R & D Project to Realize Future Medical Care“. In response to the microplastic problem, the Ministry of the Environment will promote biomass plastic. […]
RIKEN/Meiji Pharmaceutical University consortium discovers yeast which produces single-cell oil from biomass
The groups around Takashi SAKITA and Miyako TAKASHIMA have isolated over 1000 yeast strains from Okinawa. Among them, Cystibasidium irimotoense from the soils of Iriomote Island, Okinawa, was shown to metabolize glucose and xylose almost simultaneously and nearly completely in 10 days, producing up to 33 % of triglycerides. There are very few reports on […]
„Single-molecule pharmacology“: RIKEN team tracks interaction of drug with G-protein coupled receptors
A group at RIKEN has tracked the movement of nine types of fluorescently labeled G protein-coupled receptors (GPLC) in living cultured HEK 293 cells using a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope. It turned out that movement of nine kinds of GPCRs became slow when they were activated by drugs. In addition, the relationship between receptor […]