NEDO and Hitachi Kasei, Hitachi Power Solutions and NGK Insulators have completed a large-scale hybrid storage battery system in Farrel city, Lower Saxony, Germany and will start operation from November 1, 2018. The system consists of two types of storage batteries with different characteristics (lithium ion battery and sodium sulfur battery, total capacity 11.5 MW […]
Otsuka Pharmaceuticals signs agreement on cardiomyocyte technology with Adipo Medical Technology
Adipo Medical Technology Co. (AMT), an Osaka venture company, operates an AMED-supported project on the “Development of Multiple Lineage Precursor Cells from Allogeneic Adipose Tissue as a Cellular Medicine for the Treatment of Severe Heart Failure”, under project leadership of Akinobu Matsuyama at Fujita Medical University. Otsuka has announced that it has signed an agreement […]
Mitsui Chemicals and Chitose start joint project on plant stem cells and soil microorganisms
Within the “Oto1-project”, Mitsui Chemical’s plant cell cultivation technology and Chitose’s microorganism active cultivation technology will be jointy exploited and used for joint business development. Mitsui Chemicals news release, October 29, 2018
Lion reports positive impact on oral health using its saliva test system SMT
Lion Co. introduced its SMT test (salivary multi test) in May 2016. The test strip kit allows the simultaneous measurement of six saliva indicators within 5 minutes: cariogenic bacteria, pH and buffer capacity, leukocytes, proteins and ammonia, as an indicator related to oral cleanliness. After many field tests including 80 employees of Lion in Hirosaki […]
Pharma Foods to cooperate with Mitsubishi Tanabe on chicken-derived antibody drugs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases
Pharma Foods has developed a novel type of antibody directed against an autoimmune disease which was not further specified. The antibody difficult to prepare by conventional technology was prepared by Pharma Foods’ proprietary technology “ALAgene” from chicken. Pharma Foods news release, October 22, 2018
Daicel and Chitose to collaborate on C-4 chemicals from glycerol
Daicel has collaborative research with Nihon University, using wild-type bacteria, which produce erythritol from glycerin. Chitose is a specialist in bacterial mutagenesis and has developed a process for microbial butanediol production. Both companies will collaborate to improve the yield of various C-4 compounds from glycerol. Nikkei Biotech news release, October 24, 2018
Japan will introduce charges for the use of plastic shopping bags from 2020
The Ministry of Environment has decided to stop free distribution of plastic shopping bags from 2020. Appropriate replacement of bags from renewable resources such as recycled materials, paper and biomass plastics will be supported. By 2030 it is aimed to have introduced biomass plastic at a level of about 2 million tons. Nikkei Biotech news […]
Tokai University Hospital to test osteoarthritis treatment by autologous cartilage cell sheet transfer
In a future doctor-led trial, cartilage of a patient’s knee is collected with an arthroscope, and self-laminated chondrocyte cell sheets (2 or more) are manufactured at the hospital’s cell culture center. At the time of high tibial oseotomy, defective tissue is excised and self-laminated chondrocyte sheets are transplanted following bone marrow stimulation. The number of […]
METI held wordwide competition on products for “well-aging” and selected 8 finalists
On October 9, METI held a pitch contest on products designed to support aging people (“First Well-Aging Society Summit Asia-Japan”). The following eight companies were selected as finalists: GYENNO Technologies, Israel: electronic spoon “GYENNO SPOON” for patients with Parkinson’s disease, a spoon for trembling hands, http://www.gyenno.com/spoon-en.html Intuition Robotics, Israel: social robot “ElliQ” which secures connection […]
Nagoya University group develops contact lens for self-sustained continuous blood glucose monitoring
Associate Professor Kiichi NIITSU of the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University and his group have developed a miniaturized blood glucose sensor in form of a contact lens. It contains a solid-state element of 0.6 millimeter square that performs power generation and sensing at the same time by producing electricity of about 1 nano Watt […]