iCeMS Katsura Laboratory Relaunched as Collaborative Center
October 31, 2011
On October 27, Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) held a ceremony marking the relaunch of a collaborative laboratory located at the university's Katsura Campus.
The new joint effort combines the work of iCeMS Professors Susumu Kitagawa and Hiroshi Imahori with that of Adjunct Professors Kazunari Akiyoshi, Itaru Hamachi, Yasuo Mori, and Masahiro Shirakawa, all of the Graduate School of Engineering, as well as including contributions of iCeMS Associate Professors Takafumi Ueno, Shuhei Furukawa, and Mariko Ariyoshi, among others.
The opening ceremony, attended by over 40 scientists from numerous iCeMS and other Kyoto University departments, began with welcoming remarks by iCeMS Director Norio Nakatsuji and Deputy Director Kitagawa. Scientific lectures by Adj. Profs. Hamachi, Mori, and Akiyoshi together with Prof. Yoshie Harada (speaking on behalf of Adj. Prof. Shirakawa) followed, illustrating the wide variety and depth of joint work to take place in Katsura.
Numerous questions and active discussion permeated the afternoon, planting the seeds of even further cross-disciplinary efforts. After the ceremony, the group toured the lab facility and attended a commemorative reception.
Collaborative research at the 220 m2 shared-use laboratory, located in the Katsura Campus' Funai Center, will focus on work at the heart of the iCeMS' mission to integrate the cell and material sciences. These include research on combining smart polymers with porous coordination polymers (PCPs), studying and learning to control ion channels, development of advanced imaging techniques for observing processes in living cells in real time, and applications of nanogel engineering to medicine and drug delivery.
The iCeMS Katsura Laboratory was first opened on April 1, 2008, centering on research by Profs. Kitagawa and Imahori. The lab's expansion to now include the contributions of Adj. Profs. Akiyoshi, Hamachi, Mori, and Shirakawa reflects the iCeMS' growing involvement with other departments of Kyoto University, as well as its commitment to promoting a wide range of cross-disciplinary research.
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| iCeMS Director Prof. Nakatsuji |
Deputy Director Prof. Kitagawa |
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| Adj. Prof. Hamachi |
Adj. Prof. Mori |
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| Prof. Harada |
Adj. Prof. Akiyoshi |
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| Ceremony participants in front of Funai Center |
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