Tokyo Institute of Technology merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University to form Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) on October 1, 2024.
Over time, content on this site will be migrated to the Science Tokyo Web
. Any information published on this site will be valid in relation to Science Tokyo.
Tokyo Tech News
The students of Tokyo Tech obtained yet another gold medal at this year's International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), extending their world record to 11 consecutive years since the inception of the medal system. Of the 310 teams participating this year, only Tokyo Tech and the University of Freiburg are holders of this record.
Tokyo Tech team
The iGEM competition is an international synthetic biology competition mainly for undergraduate students. The student teams are given a kit of standard genetic parts, called BioBricks, and are asked to design and build a new biological system. Each team presents their results to a panel of judges. This year, the competition was held in Boston from November 10 to 13, with renowned universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Heidelberg University, and Tsinghua University participating in the 10 categories.
Tokyo Tech's team consisted of 12 students who worked on establishing a co-culture system for human cells and E. coli. This may sound easy, but during experiments, contaminated bacteria in the human cell culture environment rapidly grow, and human cells die. In our bodies, it seems that symbiotic relationships with bacteria are established in various organs, including the intestines. We believe that this co-cultivation technology can contribute not only to analyzing the "creation" of this symbiotic relationship, but also to the construction of a more life-like living system. We plan to develop devices applying this co-cultivation technology next year and apply it to medical applications as well. In the iGEM competition, creating "something with high social impact" is becoming a prerequisite for winning the category prize and the special prize, and, by developing applied technology and devices based on this year's product, we are aiming for the special award next year.
Assoc. Prof. Yoh-ichi Tagawa, School of Life Science and Technology
Assoc. Prof. Nobuhiro Hayashi, School of Life Science and Technology
Assoc. Prof. Nobutaka Nakashima, School of Life Science and Technology
Prof. Masayuki Yamamura, School of Computing
Prof. Hiroyuki Ohta, School of Life Science and Technology
Akifumi Nishida, 3rd-year doctoral student, Computer Science
Shyoya Yasuda, 3rd-year doctoral student, Computer Science
Prof. Robert F. Whittier, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University
Project for Promotion of Global Human Resource Development
Tokyo Tech Fund
Aizawa Fund
Tokyo Tech Alumni Association
Tokyo Tech Alumni Association Kanagawa Branch
Bio Creation Design Room
Science education support
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT)
Cosmo Bio Co., Ltd
Promega Corporation
Leave a Nest Co., ltd.
Metabologenomics, lnc.
Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO)
MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES CO., LYD. (MBL)
School of Life Science and Technology
—Unravel the Complex and Diverse Phenomena of Life—
Information on School of Life Science and Technology inaugurated in April 2016
© Institute of Science Tokyo. All rights reserved.
