President’s Initiatives
RIKEN actively promotes special projects in some of the most promising fields of frontier science through an internal competitive fund entitled Strategic Research Programs for Research and Development. Dubbed the ‘President’s fund’, the initiative supports challenging and interdisciplinary research projects to be undertaken by leading research teams utilizing the integrated resources of RIKEN’s extensive network of laboratories and facilities. President’s Initiatives showcases some of the most interesting and exciting of these special projects.
President’s Initiatives
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‘Cell surgery’ using nano-beams (26 March 2010)
Using a simple glass capillary, nuclear physicists at RIKEN are developing an ultra-narrow ion beam that pinpoints the surface of organelles in a living cell, enabling biologists to visualize how the damage affects cell dynamics.
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Nano-aquarium opens up a new realm of research into microorganisms (19 February 2010)
A microchip fabricated with femtosecond lasers at RIKEN allows the rare observation of microalgae behavior
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Tackling the genetic onset of Down syndrome (05 February 2010)
Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute are developing a highly efficient system to create mouse model lines that could dramatically advance genetic research on the most common mental retardation.
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Space observatory’s detector technology goes into single-molecule imaging (16 October 2009)
Astrophysicists at RIKEN lend their expertise to biologists to develop one of the world’s fastest and most sensitive cameras to observe cell behavior at the nanometer scale.
