A research group led by Professor Masaki Ieda of the University of Tsukuba has discovered that the TBX6 gene can directly regenerate cardiovascular tissue when injected into cardiac fibroblasts. Previous...
Innovation
Mitsui Chemicals Plans European Clinical Research for Sepsis Testing Technology
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) is looking to expand R&D efforts overseas with its new testing technology for sepsis, a severe infectious disease. This comes as part of a plan to...
Zeon, Yokohama Rubber, Riken Achieve World-First Production of Isoprene From Biomass
Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205), Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) announced on July 26 that they have developed technology for the efficient and...
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Plans Launch of Antipsychotic Pills With Embedded Mini-Sensors
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is targeting a U.S. rollout beginning as soon as this year for Abilify MyCite – a world-first “digital medicine” that incorporates medical devices into pills. The...
Teijin Frontier Develops New Heat-Resistant Bag Filter With High Performance, Long Life
Teijin Frontier Co. Ltd. has developed a new heat-resistant bag filter that makes use of Teijinconex, a superfine meta-aramid fiber with high heat resistance. Plans are to target this new...
Japan Makes Wave of Advancements in Epoxy Technologies
Japanese organizations have recently made a spate of innovations in epoxy materials, with efforts from Osaka University, Ando DK Co. Ltd. and more serving to open up new possibilities in...
Kanto Denka Kogyo Develops Heat Dissipation Fiber Able to Double Thermal Conductivity
Kanto Denka Kogyo Co. Ltd. (TYO:4047) recently developed a new fiber that disperses easily and has high thermal conductivity. Adding this fiber to a resin containing thermally conductive particles, the...
Kracie, NOF Team up to Develop Amino Acid-Based Surfactant for Shampoo
Kracie Home Products Ltd. has teamed up with chemical manufacturer NOF Corp. (TYO:4403) to jointly develop HEA, a new amino acid-based surfactant from sodium lauroyl hydroxyethyl beta-alaninate for use as...
NHK Spring Develops Technology to More Effectively Weld Aluminum, Ultrahigh-Tensile Materials
NHK Spring Co. Ltd. (TYO:5991) has developed a new proprietary technology in the form of clamping spot welding, making it possible now to get an ultrahigh-tensile compound with aluminum. Clamping...
Nittobo Looks to Leverage Fiber Business for Concrete Reinforcement
Nitto Boseki Co. Ltd. (TYO:3110) – also known as Nittobo – is targeting new ground with its textiles business, aiming to take its technology for multilayer structured textiles and use...
Toray Develops Blood-Purifying Fiber Adsorbent With Application in Preventing Respiratory Failure
Toray Industries Inc. (TYO:3402) has developed a fiber adsorbent for purifying blood, able to selectively eliminate activated leukocyte cells and cytokine proteins that lead to respiratory failure. It is a...
Japan’s ImPACT Program Brings World Closer to Realization of Next-Gen Cars
Materials innovation is moving ever closer to bringing about the next generation of automobiles. Working under Impulsing Paradigm Change through Disruptive Technologies (ImPACT), an R&D program from Japan’s Cabinet Office,...
Organo Prepares to Enter Battery Business
Organo Corp. (TYO:6368) is entering the battery sector. The company has developed two products for its new business. One is a solvent for use in the manufacture of liquid coatings...
Saticine Medical Successfully Extracts Oil-Soluble Polyphenol From Sweet Potato
Saticine Medical Co. Ltd. recently succeeded in extracting an oil-soluble polyphenol from sweet potato. The company has verified the polyphenol to be a low-molecular-weight, oil-soluble material with excellent bioavailability and...
Kyoto University Uses New Catalyst to Achieve High-Yield Synthesis of Acetic Acid From Ethanol
A research group within Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies recently announced its development of a new method for the synthesis of acetic acid from an ethanol–water...
GEI Reaches Deals to Mass-Produce Bio-Based Amino Acids, Moves Toward Commercialization of Methionine
Green Earth Institute Co. Ltd. (GEI) is getting ready to commercialize amino acid and raw materials for cosmetics. The Tokyo bioventure has reached deals to mass-produce alanine and valine, which...
Japanese–US Research Group Identifies Key LED Conditions for Metabolic Reprogramming in Vegetables
Headway is being made in research toward greater production efficiency and quality for vegetables produced in vertical farms, making use of more effective irradiation setups with regard to LED light...
Ube Industries Develops New Urethane Resin for Preventing Concrete Deterioration
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has developed a new urethane resin with improved coating toughness and transparency for use with building materials in civil engineering. The new resin can be used...
Bridgestone Successfully Bonds Rubber and Resin at Molecular Level for Superior Performance
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has developed copolymerization technology that sees rubber and resin elements bonded at the molecular level. This represents the world’s first success in the copolymerization of conjugated dienes...
Kishida Applies Materials Informatics for Next-Gen Electrolyte Development
Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd. is putting materials informatics (MI) to use to speed up development for a range of next-generation electrolytes, including those for use in lithium-ion batteries (LiBs). Recently,...
