NCBS and inStem have signed a partnership agreement with the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMs), Japan to set up a new satellite lab in NCBS. To herald this new partnership, a delegation from iCeMS recently visited NCBS and presented a series of talks on the different areas of research being carried out at iCeMs. The conference was streamed live to an audience at iCeMs, Japan.

The conference was opened by Mr. Masayuki Tsuchikawa, Consul Head of the consulate of Japan, Bangalore. Professor Norio Nakatsuji, Director of iCeMs spoke briefly about the institute and then presented Dr. VijayRaghavan a kimono-no-obi to herald the new partnership. The antique sash was made in Nishijin district from obi silk, exclusive to Kyoto city and dates back to the early 1900s. The kimono will be put on display at the new satellite lab.

iCeMs was recently set up by the government of Japan under the World Premier International Research Centre (WPI) initiative at Kyoto University to create a centre for advancement of material sciences. This cross disciplinary institute has faculty in chemical, biological and physical sciences who draw on the synergistic benefits of integrating the various disciplines.

The speakers from iCeMs were Professor Akihiro Kusumi, Associate Professor Dr. Ryotaro Matsuda, Associate Professor Dr. Stéphane Diring, Junior PI Dr. Ziya Kalay, and Dr. Sravan Goparaju. NCBS was represented by Dr. VijayRaghavan, Dr. Satyajit Mayor, Dr. Sudhir Krishna, and Dr. Mitradas Panicker. Dr. Maneesha Inamdar, Dr. Ramaswamy Subramanian and Dr. Jyotsna Dhawan spoke from inStem.

This MoU was a result of earlier successful collaborations between individual PIs from both institutes. As Dr. VijayRaghavan had said “NCBS is an institute of excellence, but it is through these collaborations with world class institutes like iCeMs that we can truly grow.”