カテゴリー: Irvine-topics

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On November 8, 2022, Prof. MURATANI Masafumi of the Faculty of Medicine’s Transborder Medical Research Center gave a lecture at the Center for Complex Biological Systems (CCBS) of UC Irvine. His topic was on “Space, Adaptation and Evolution: The exploration of environmental responses and robustness of biological systems to predict the future of life on and beyond Earth.” In the lecture, he presented an outline of a proposal for program funding in Japan.

Prof. MURATANI also met with Prof. Arthur Lander, CCBS Director, and Dr. Shimako Kawauchi, local coordinator of the University of Tsukuba based in Irvine, California.

Prof. MURATANI, left, with CCBS Director Arthur Lander (Photo courtesy of Prof. MURATANI)

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In summer 2022, after a hiatus of three years, the laboratory rotation program initiated by Dr. KAMEDA Toshihiro, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, resumed. Two graduate students from the University of Tsukuba went to University of California Irvine on July 18, 2022, later joined in by seven undergraduate students from August 15 until September 24, 2022. Dr. KAMEDA also visited UC Irvine to check on his students. From the start, this summer rotation project has been a one-on-one agreement between Dr. Kameda and UCI’s Dr. David Reinkensmeyer (Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering). UT’s OB Mr. Shusuke Okita, who is now a PhD student and member of Dr. Reinkensmeyer’s lab at UC Irvine, helped in attending to UT students.

(Photo by Mr. Okita)

(Photo by Mr. Okita)

University of Tsukuba trainees – on campus at UCI (photo by Mr. Okita)

9/24/22 Had a training completion reception with the undergraduate students participating in the summer training program and graduate students from UCI.

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On August 14, 2022, Dr. Shimako Kawauchi, an alumni representative for the North America region of the University of Tsukuba who is based in Irvine, California, invited four University of Tsukuba alumni from the area to a get-together with current students from the university who are on a summer laboratory rotation at the University of California Irvine (UCI). The alumni included Kenji Uetsuki of Amazon, Mahoko Hara of Aviation Capital Group, Toshi Yasue of Panasonic Avionics Corporation, and Shusuke Okita who is now a Ph.D. student at UCI.

More events for Tsukuba alumni based in North America are being planned in the near future. Please watch out for announcements near your area.

University of Tsukuba alumni with current students waving to the camera

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UCI is No. 1 among Money magazine’s “Best Colleges”

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NAFSA conferences are held for about a week around May/June annually in different locations in the U.S.A. Dr. Caroline Benton, Vice President for Global Affairs, participated as a session speaker for the past years. The NAFSA Annual Conference is the world’s largest international educational exchange conference. Every year, more than 10,000 people from the United States and around the world participate in the conference.

NAFSA also hosts the Study in Japan Fair organized by JAFSA (Japan Network for International Education), which our University also joins from time to time.

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Ms. Lynn Willis, Regulatory Compliance Programs Manager, Risk and Regulatory Affairs, UC Irvine Health, was invited for a consulting visit to the University of Tsukuba Hospital last December 14-17, 2015.

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UCI and the University of Tsukuba held a three-day “science partnership conference” last December 9 to 11, 2015 at UCI on the theme “Exploring Complex Systems from Human Biology to Exercise Science”. A compilation of abstracts presented at the conference can be downloaded here.

Presentations in the molecular and cellular foundations of human biology were conducted on the second day. Participants from the University of Tsukuba included Ho Kiong and Mitsuru Okuwaki, both specializing in Infection Biology; as well as Tomoki Chiba (Life and Environmental Sciences), Masafumi Muratani (Genome Biology), Hiroshi Hasegawa (HBP SIGMA), and Hiroyuki Suzuki (Experimental Pathology). A discussion regarding Graduate Program Collaboration between the two partner universities was conducted afterward. In the evening, a keynote dinner, with Dr. Dan Cooper of UCI’s Institute for Clinical Translational Science as the speaker, was held at the Ayres Hotel Costa Mesa.

The third and last day of the conference focused on the fields of exercise medicine and neuroscience which was held at the Herklotz Conference Facility of UCI’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Presenters from the University of Tsukuba included Takeshi Nishiyasu (Exercise and Environmental Physiology), Takashi Matsui and Hideaki Soya, both of Sport Neuroscience.

Kyeongho Byun, a Sport Neuroscience student at the University of Tsukuba, and of Neurology and Behavior at UCI, also participated. A panel discussion with all the speakers was held after the presentations. A Distinguished Session Speaker, Carl Cotman of the UC Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCIMIND), gave a talk on “Exercise builds brain health”.

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To investigate the current state of affairs regarding research grant compliance structures and measures in place at overseas partner universities to help foster an internationally compatible internal control system, Mr. Akihiro Tosaka and Mr. Daisuke Murata of the University of Tsukuba’s Division of Accounting System visited UCI last November 23-24, 2015. University of Tsukuba Irvine Office Liaison, Dr. Shimako Kawauchi, was also able to arrange for the delegation to visit California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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Prof. Koji Nomura, Organization for Educational Initiatives, and Associate Prof. Masahiro Tanaka, Research Center for University Studies, together with Mr. Akio Nakagami and Ms. Yumiko Baba of the Department of Educational Promotion of the University of Tsukuba visited UCI last October 28, 2015, and met with Prof. Diane O’Dowd, Vice Provost, Academic Personnel, Ms. Elizabeth Bennett, UCI Registrar, as well as Dr. Jacob Levin.

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Prof. Satoru Takahashi, Director of the University of Tsukuba’s Laboratory Animal Resource Center and Head of its Transgenic Mouse Facility, visited UCI last June 26, 2015, to discuss ongoing and potential new research collaborations. In particular, he met with the following: Prof. Xing Dai, Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine; Assoc Prof. Grant McGregor, Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences; Prof. Kyoko Yokomori, Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine; Dr. Kazuhide Watanabe, Developmental Biology & Cancer Research; and Dr. Jacob Levin.