Tokyo Institute of Technology,School and Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology,Global COE Program

  Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccination method by knowing the fact that persons with a past history of cowpox were not infected with smallpox later. His method has saved a large number of human lives in the 200 years since then, however, understanding of the whole picture of the human immune response has made little progress.It is true that individual understandings of many factors comprising immune response system have been progressing; however, it is impossible to understand the two basic features of the immune response system, immunity and tolerance unless the following are elucidated: how each elemental factor collaborated and integrated, and are biological functions called immune responses performed?   In other words, how are functional collaborations through dynamics and interactions of individual factors incorporated into the whole dynamic systems called immune responses? To understand this matter, genetics and biochemical analyses based on specific proteins are limited, and a research deployment from a new perspective is needed, such as analyzing the entire picture of the immune response system specifically and reviewing the relations and configuration of factors that constitute the system. Only after the entire picture can be grasped, will it become possible to develop vaccines against many pathogens as needed through methods totally different from traditional approaches.

   Not only immune responses but all the biological functions can be treated as dynamic biological systems composed of biogenic factors (for example, proteins, DNA, RNA, and metabolites, etc.) An individual life system is defined as a network that consists of factors that interact directly or indirectly. Collaborating and having configurations of these many systems (namely, by many systems being networked) lead to the construction of systems that results in higher bodily functions. For example, a transcription reaction can be considered as one life system in itself (for example, networks of the interactions between DNA and proteins or among proteins). A life system called cell is built by integrating and having configurations of the systems that cause various metabolic reactions including transcription reactions. Likewise, organs and individual organisms can be said to be life systems formed on networks among higher level systems. For example, 10¹¹ neuron cells are connected with 10¹⁸ synapses, and they are networked in the human brain, which is formed as a life system to control higher bodily functions such as memory, learning, and recognition, etc. Every life system is dynamic and programmed on spatial and temporal axes ingeniously and has amazing flexibility to respond to different stimuli and changes. 　 On the contrary, disease or aging can be understood as a disorder in such a life system, and at present, attempts to understand life as a system are indispensable when addressing drug discovery, preventive medicine, predictive medicine, and environmental issues, etc. as well as basic research.

   Century COE program, "the Frontier System of Bioengineering," we will aim to elucidate the mechanisms that multi-molecules establish networks and constitute life systems at all molecular, cellular, tissue and organism levels, to develop techniques for the elucidation, to further promote both basic research and applied research as two wheels of one cart including biological and medical applications by controlling life system, to foster human resources who can be bearers of biology, and to create systematic studies in systems biology. In any event, to respond to the preceding basic questions, researchers who have an outstanding ability in more than one field, not only in biology but information science, chemistry, mathematics or physics have to study interdisciplinary biology, where they work on these common issues as a team. Therefore, in this GCOE program, by making the most efficient and productive use of the features of the Graduate School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, we have set up three major issues related to biological systems, and launched three education and research clusters to respond to each issue.   Cluster 1 deals with the analysis of mechanisms (basic research related to individual biology systems, such as the regulation of gene expression, cell signaling, development and differentiation, and evolution of organisms, etc.) Cluster 2 handles the development of new analysis techniques (the development of measurement devices and methodology for high precision and high processing to quantitatively measure intermolecular interactions, such as magnetic nanoparticles, fluorescent probes, high-throughput crystal oscillators, hall elements, etc. Development of high-resolution equipment to analyze single molecules or cells, and further development of new informatics tools needed for systemization, interpretation, analysis, integration, and modeling of over tens of millions of comprehensive data). Cluster 3 covers applied development of biomedical applications and extensions (applied research and applications in clinical practice for drug delivery systems and next generation treatment based on the development of new functional materials and chemical biology).

With regard to educational approaches, as coherent improvement and enhancement in educational environment, we have newly established special courses for graduate school education, such as "bioinformatics processing course," "biotechnology course," and "nanomedicine course" that correspond to the three clusters through collaboration between Tokodai and other research institutions in Japan and overseas, and have published textbooks for doctoral course students at each course. To take an interdisciplinary approach successfully, it is of course necessary to learn to speak the languages of not only biology but physics, chemical and mathematics. Therefore, fostering students with a background in biology who can perform cross-cutting research will be required. We are therefore deepening collaboration in our university by enhancing and fulfilling education in physical chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, bioinformatics, environmental chemistry, management, patents related, etc. In addition, since cultivating the internationalism of students is a pressing need, we are actively promoting student exchanges and research exchanges between our university and cooperative institutions, such as UCLA, the Scripps Research Institute in the U.S., and CNRS in France as an international internship by providing opportunities like a summer school (the first one was held this year), and are supporting students to participate in international symposiums and to exchange with overseas cooperative universities by fulfilling lectures and seminars by overseas world-class instructors. Through the preceding education and research, we would like to strive to cultivate human resources who will be able to pioneer new biology in the 21^st century.