Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Frontiers in Life Science Seminar Series " Hematopoietic stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells. " We will host a seminar by Dr. Ryohichi Sugimura on April 25th (Wed). Dr. Sugimura has succeeded in generating hematopoietic stem cells from human iPS cells (Sugimura et al, Nature 2017). He will give a talk related to this topic and his current research, which utilizes a bioengineering approach. The following is the detail of the seminar information.   Speaker: Dr. Ryohichi Sugimura (Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical school, USA)   Date and Time: from 4:30pm on April 25, 2018 Place: Seminar Room, the 1st floor at Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University (MAP)   Abstract; A variety of tissue lineages can be differentiated from pluripotent stem cells by mimicking embryonic development through stepwise exposure to morphogens, or by conversion of one differentiated cell type into another by enforced expression of master transcription factors. Here, to yield functional human haematopoietic stem cells, we perform morphogen-directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into haemogenic endothelium followed by screening of 26 candidate haematopoietic stem-cell-specifying transcription factors for their capacity to promote multilineage haematopoietic engraftment in mouse hosts. We recover seven transcription factors (ERG, HOXA5, HOXA9, HOXA10, LCOR, RUNX1 and SPI1) that are sufficient to convert haemogenic endothelium into haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells that engraft myeloid, B and T cells in primary and secondary mouse recipients. Our combined approach of morphogen-driven differentiation and transcription-factor-mediated cell fate conversion produces haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from pluripotent stem cells and holds promise for modelling haematopoietic disease in humanized mice and for therapeutic strategies in genetic blood disorders. Reference: Sugimura et al, Nature 2017, 545(7655):432-438     #s3gt_translate_tooltip_mini { display: none !important; }

Deadline : April 20, 2018   Outline One of the objectives of Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS) is adoption and promotion for basic research themes beyond the typical disciplines. FRIS has basic experiment facilities and devices to meet the demand of interdisciplinary studies.   We invite proposals for interdisciplinary themes and subjects in order to support the seminal studies of 6 domains of (1) Materials and Energy, (2) Life and Environmental science, (3) Information and Systems, (4) Device technology, (5) Human and Society, (6) Advanced basic science for “FRIS Creative Interdisciplinary Research Program”. Adopted themes for this program are supposed to be leading to developed program "FRIS Support Program for Interdisciplinary Research" in future. Submitted proposals are to be reviewed by FRIS committee. We encourage application from young researchers such as assistant prof., lecturer, associate prof..   We appreciate your application based on new original ideas and new points of view.   Research budget 1,000,000 yen for each fiscal year.   Qualification requirements Principal researcher (Research representative) should be a member of Tohoku University as assistant professor, lecturer and associate professor. Especially, we encourage application from young researchers. Application form and submission method Applicants should fill in the application form (A4 2 pages) and follow directions. Submit 2 hard-copies to administvative office of FRIS.  Deadline April 20, 2018   For details please see the application guidelines.   Guidelines（PDF） Application form（word） Contact Prof. Saida, (call extension 92-5752 or e-mail to @ ) Specially assigned associate professor Suzuki, (call extension 92-4353 or e-mail to @).

Deadline : April 6, 2018   Outline   One of the objectives of Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS) is adoption and promotion for basic research themes beyond the typical disciplines. FRIS has basic experiment facilities and devices to meet the demand of interdisciplinary studies. We invite proposals for the cutting-edge interdisciplinary themes or subjects in order to support the seminal studies of 6 domains of (1) Materials and Energy, (2) Life and Environmental science, (3) Information and Systems, (4) Device technology, (5) Human and Society, (6) Advanced basic science for “FRIS Support Program for Interdisciplinary Research”. Submitted proposals are to be reviewed by FRIS committee.   We encourage application from various researchers belonging to the department, institute and center except FRIS in Tohoku University. We don’t limit anything about position of research contributors if a research group meets the conditions as mentioned in guidelines.   We appreciate your application based on new original ideas and new points of view.   Up to 5,000,000 yen for each fiscal year (Up to 15,000,000 for 3 years).   Qualification requirements A research group should consist of members from more than three of faculties (schools) or institutions in Tohoku University. Application documents, Submission method Applicants should fill in the application form (A4 2 pages) and follow directions. Submit 2 hard-copies to administrative of FRIS.  Deadline April 6, 2018   For details please see the application guidelines.   Guidelines（PDF） Application form（word） Contact Prof. Saida, (call extension 92-5752 or e-mail to @ ) Specially assigned associate professor Suzuki, (call extension 92-4353 or e-mail to @). #s3gt_translate_tooltip_mini { display: none !important; }

Kazuhiro Watanabe（Graduate School Biomed. Eng. Master student） Poster award at 13th International IntraCranial Stent Meeting 2016-11-27 Master student Mr. Kazuhiro WATANABE received the "Poster award" at 13th International IntraCranial Stent Meeting held on Nov. 26-27, 2016, in Kobe. Title: Exploring the relationship between the inflow zone and strut positions within the aneurysm orifice: a hemodynamic simulation study Authors: Kazuhiro Watanabe (Graduate School Biomed. Eng.) Hitomi Anzai (FRIS) Makoto Ohta (IFS) 　

Hitomi Anzai（Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division） Poster award at 13th International IntraCranial Stent Meeting 2016-11-27 Assistant Professor Dr. Hitomi Anzai received the "Poster award" at 13th International IntraCranial Stent Meeting held on Nov. 26-27, 2016, in Kobe.  This research was supported by Tohoku University, the program for Young Researcher Overseas Visits. Title: Correlating MR Wall Enhancement and Wall Shear Stress: Does CFD work to predict aneurysm instability? Authors:  Hitomi Anzai (FRIS) Norman Juchler (ZHAW) Makoto Ohta (IFS) Sven Hirsch (ZHAW) Daniel A. Rüfenacht (Hirslanden clin.) Isabel Wanke (Hirslanden clin.) 　

Takashi Shimonishi（Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division） Discovery of an Extragalactic Hot Molecular Core 2016-10-5 Dr. Shimonishi and co-authors have discovered a 'hot molecular core,' a cocoon of molecules surrounding a newborn massive star, for the first time outside our Galaxy. The discovery, which marks the first important step for observational studies of extragalactic hot molecular cores and challenges the hidden chemical diversity of our universe, appears in a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Volume 827. The scientists from Tohoku University, the University of Tokyo, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and the University of Tsukuba, used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to observe a newborn star located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest neighbors of our Galaxy. As a result, a number of radio emission lines from various molecular gas are detected, which indicates the presence of a hot molecular core associated with the observed newborn star. EurekAlert! Tohoku University Graduate School of Science and Faculty of Science, Tohoku University AlphaGalileo National Radio Astronomy Observatory The European Southern Observatory The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

Wei Guo (FRIS, Saida Lab.) Excellent Poster Award for Young Scientist at PRICM 9 2016-08-08 Excellent Poster Award for Young Scientist Dr. Wei Guo received the "Excellent Poster Award for Young Scientist" at 9th Pacific Rim International Conference on Advanced Materials and Processing (PRICM 9) held in Kyoto on August 1-5, 2016. Title： Development and microstructure optimization of Mg-based metallic glass matrix composites with in-situ B2-NiTi dispersoids Winner: Wei Guo (FRIS, Saida Lab.), Hidemi Kato (IMR), Rui Yamada (FRIS), Naoyuki Tanaka (Graduate School of Engineering), Junji Saida (FRIS)

Taketoshi Minato "Tunneling Desorption of Single Hydrogen on the Surface of Titanium Dioxide", ACS Nano (America Chemical Society) A research team comprising scientists from Tohoku University (FRIS and AIMR), RIKEN, the University of Tokyo, Chiba University and University College London have discovered a new chemical reaction pathway on titanium dioxide (TiO2), an important photocatalytic material.  The reaction mechanism, reported in ACS Nano, involves the application of an electric field that narrows the width of the reaction barrier, thereby allowing hydrogen atoms to tunnel away from the surface. This opens the way for the manipulation of the atomic-scale transport channels of hydrogen, which could be important in hydrogen storage. Hydrogen has been put forward as a clean and renewable alternative to the burning of hydrocarbons and one of the great challenges of our day is to find an efficient way to store and transport it.  The team used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to directly visualize single hydrogen ions, a common atomic defect on TiO2. In STM, the surface structure of a solid surface is observed on the atomic scale by scanning a sharp probe across the surface and monitoring the tunneling current. Minato and his collaborators were able to desorb individual hydrogen ions from the surface by using the STM probe to apply electrical pulses to the hydrogen. The pulse generates an electric field as well as injecting electrons into the sample. By using a new theoretical approach, the team confirmed that rather than reducing the reaction barrier height, the electric field reduces the width of the barrier, thereby allowing the hydrogen to desorb by quantum tunneling.  Lead author Prof. Taketoshi Minato (Tohoku Univ. and RIKEN, currently Kyoto University) commented that “The new reaction pathway could be exploited in nanoscale switching devices and hydrogen storage technology. For instance, electric fields could be used to extract hydrogen from a TiO2-based storage device”. Publication Details Authors：Taketoshi Minato, Seiji Kajita, Chi-Lun Pang, Naoki Asao, Yoshinori Yamamoto, Takashi Nakayama, Maki Kawai, and Yousoo Kim Title：Tunneling Desorption of Single Hydrogen on the Surface of Titanium Dioxide Journal：ACS Nano (America Chemical Society) (Volume and pages：details to be added later) DOI：10.1021/acsnano.5b01607 Contact :  Professor Taketoshi Minato International Advanced Research and Education Organization  Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation  Kyoto University Email: minato.taketoshi.5x(at)kyoto-u.ac.jp  Tel: +81-774-38-4942 (Formerly of Tohoku University and RIKEN) Press Release :  Tohoku University EurekAlert!