https://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_101606.html In order to address labor shortages in Japan, where the working-age population is declining more rapidly than anywhere else in the world, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has developed a digital twin that can sustainably improve productivity and reduce the burden on people. The digital twin reflects in a […]
2023/01: A 1 µm green microalgae, Medakamo hakoo, holds promise for synthetic biology
https://www.jst.go.jp/pr/announce/20230127/pdf/20230127.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-04367-9 A team from the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo University of Science has cultured a new type of microalgae from the water in a tank where goldfish and killifish were kept, and identified its genome sequence. The photosynthetic microalgae has only 7629 genes, the lowest number of genes among all freshwater green […]
2022/12 Japanese team wins first prize in European competition on artificial photosynthesis
https://www.nedo.go.jp/news/press/AA5_101598.html The University of Tokyo and INPEX Co., partners in NEDO’s project “Technology Development for the Production of Key Chemicals Using Carbon Dioxide as Raw Material” and with the support of the Research Association for Artificial Photosynthetic Chemistry Process Technology (ARPChem) have won the first place out of 22 teams in the competition “Fuel from […]
2022/11 Osaka University team prints edible QR code into cookies
https://www.jst.go.jp/pr/announce/20221017/pdf/20221017.pdf Kosuke Sato and colleagues have embedded “edible information” into cookies using a 3D printer. 2D codes, or AR markers, are created through cavities when the food is printed and remain intact during baking. They can be read again when the back of the cookies are exposed to high-frequency light, and not only store data […]
2022/10 Cyfuse reports progress on 3D printed organoids
https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/22/10/27/10073/ https://en.cyfusebio.com Cyfuse was established in 2010 and is focused on 3D cell technology that uses a bio 3D printer to laminate cell clumps (spheroids) consisting of an average of 10,000 cells in a 3D manner without the use of artificial scaffolds. The company has 3 business fields: to develop a pipeline of regenerative medicine […]
2022/09 Sekisui converts waste to ethanol
https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/22/09/21/09955/ Sekisui Chemical plans to commercialize a technology that uses microorganisms to convert combustible garbage into ethanol by 2025. In April 2022, a 1/10th demonstration plant in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, began operating, marking the start of the final stage of verification testing toward practical application. About 800 l ethanol are produced from 20 t of […]
2022/08 A microarray measures COVID antibody levels in blood in 8 minutes
https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/22/08/15/09819/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44211-022-00161-z The system developed by a joint research group from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine uses a synthetic polymer that is photoreactive and inhibits nonspecific adsorption which is coated on a chip, and viral proteins are placed on the chip in the form of spots. The […]
2022/07 ToMMo completes whole genome analysis of 50,000 Japanese
https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/22/07/04/09683/ Tohoku University Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (ToMMo) announced on June 30, 2022, that it has completed the analysis of the whole genome information of 50,000 Japanese. The Tohoku Medical Megabank has accumulated health information and biological samples of 150,000 local residents, mainly in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, and ToMMo is currently analyzing them. ToMMo […]
2022/06 Dr Foods offers vegetable-based foie-gras burger
https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/22/06/28/09664/ Dr. Foods (Shinjuku, Tokyo), a developer of cultured meat and plant-derived meat, announced on June 28, 2022, that it will launch its first product, a plant-derived alternative foie gras. Although not a product made from cultured animal cells, the company used the name “cultured foie gras” because microorganisms are cultured in the manufacturing process. […]
2022/05 Green Earth Institute and NEDO inaugurate “Kanto Biofoundry Base” for bioprocess optimization
As part of NEDO’s “Development of Production Technologies for Bio-based Products to Accelerate the Realization of Carbon Recycling, The Green Earth Institute, Inc. https://gei.co.jp/en/ is constructing a demonstration base for microbial bioproduction processes (“The Kanto Biofoundry Base”) using two locations in Chiba Prefecture, its subsidiary in Kisarazu City and the Mobara Plant of Mitsui Chemicals. The Kanto […]