Members

Director, Laboratory
Hiroko ISODA, PhD

Since 2016, AIST has been launching “Open Innovation Laboratories (Commonly known as OIL)”, a collaborative research centers for industry, academia and government established on campuses such as universities, as a part of the “Open Innovation Arena Plan” promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Through OIL, it is intended to promote the "bridge" of technology to the industrial world by integrating basic research at universities and other institutions with basic research and applied technology development at AIST.

Until now, the University of Tsukuba has promoted research on the functionality of foods and the discovery of natural bioactive substances from various resources, such as plants. We have elucidated many mechanisms of food resource components, with various biological effects, through a variety of bioassay technologies and clinical trial research on humans. The discovery of new food ingredients and the scientific demonstration of high-performance components based on the accumulated scientific evidence can create an added-value for investigated materials, lead to industrialization and job creation. It is also an initiative that follows the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Furthermore, AIST has positioned catalyst technology, which converts various substances into more useful intermediates, as a key technology for achieving chemical manufacturing technology and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have been working on the development of practical catalysts for synthesizing useful substances using the components contained in the raw materials.

With the establishment of the OIL for Food Medicinal Resource Engineering, the potential of the University of Tsukuba's research on drug resources and the potential of AIST's material conversion technology will be merged, to allow sufficient supply of rare bioactive ingredients in food products, from cheap raw materials, which were previously difficult to obtain. We can, therefore, expect to discover and elucidate new bioactive functions expressed by these rare components and their corresponding derivatives. With regard to promising candidate substances, we will add medical evidence through clinical research and aim to implement them in society as pharmaceuticals and functional foods ingredients.

We look forward to the active participation of researchers and companies in OIL.
We also look forward to your guidance and support.

【Biomass conversion team】

【Bioassay team】