Research Center for Biological Resources

Biological resources provide humans with a variety of useful products and gene sources, and have contributed to the development of the food, health, and other industries. In addition, advances in biology, molecular genetics, and ecology, etc., in recent years have further expanded the use of biological resources, making it possible for them to have a significant impact on human society.

Meanwhile, turning our view to society, we can see that the problems of energy and food are becoming more severe in a context of an ever-expanding population. Further, human endeavors that place a significant burden on the environment (industrial activities, lifestyles) are creating a crisis of society's sustainability. Moreover, attrition in local communities due to the decline of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries is now a serious problem in Japan.

The study and utilization of biological resources hold a powerful key to solving these problems. In other words, carbon-neutral energy production using biological resources, the creation of nutritious, disease-resistant crops, increased production of crops using a network formed by soil microbes such as bacteria and fungi, as well as transition to a sixth industry that also handles processing and distribution, creation of specialty goods that feature the region's unique natural environment and biota, ecotourism, and other new economic activity to revitalize the weakened primary industries will be important. The Research Center will strive to become a site for biological materials research, and implement the results of research in society, in order to develop uses for biological resources that are truly innovative and useful and have a significant societal impact, and the technology they need.