Spiber, a spin-out of Keio University and successful in the scale-up of spider silk production, has teamed up with Aderans, a Tokyo-based wig-maker. The two companies plan to jointly develop a new structural material for human wigs based on recombinant spider silk. Aderans will utilize its hair-related technologies to reproduce the unique feel and properties […]
EdiGene startup to focus on gene therapy of orphan diseases
The company is a spin-off of the University of Tokyo, using the research results of Osamu NUREKI. They develop in vivo gene therapy using adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for single gene diseases. https://www.j-startup.go.jp/en/startups/017_edigene.html
Gene Techno Science to develop dental pulp-derived stem cells for treatment of childrens’ diseases
Gene Technos Science Co. shareholders have approved to make Cell Technology, acquired in January 2019, a wholly-owned subsidiary. Cell Technology has a partnership with over 2000 medical institutions across Japan to provide services for dental pulp-derived and other stem cells. It supplies such cells to companies such as Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Nikon and Sekisui for […]
RIKEN and Hitachi succeed in automated culture of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell sheets derived from human iPS cells
A joint research team of Hitachi and RIKEN have successfully used a completely closed automatic cell culture system for culturing RPE cell sheets derived from human iPS cells. using a culture device. By analysis of various markers it was demonstrated that these RPE cell sheets showed the same level of quality as those cultured by skilled […]
RIKEN researchers prepare adhesive silk by tyrosinase-catalysed oxidation
Hiromitsu SUGAKAWA and colleagues at RIKEN Bioresources Research Center have treated an aqueous silk protein solution with tyrosinase, thereby converting tyrosine residues in silk to DOPA. Amino acid analysis by ninhydrin confirmed that the treated silk contained about 1 mol% of DOPA. The adhesiveness of this DOPA-containing silk protein was greatly improved, especially under basic conditions, […]
Olympus launches endoscope software “EndoBRAIN” based on AI data
The imaging system will help to judge wheter a polyp detected by the endoscope is neoplastic or not. It has obtained regulatory domestic approval for sales in Japan. Nikkei Biotech news release, March 4, 2019 +