We hope everyone can live long in a healthy state. This is thought to be one of the basic conditions to realize a safe and secure society. The importance of health is also shown in the New Health Frontier Strategy set up by the Japanese government, and the social interest in health has increased more than ever before.

In such a situation, various problems have arisen that cannot be solved in the conventional technical field alone. For example, for routine health care or predictive diagnosis to spread in society, a technology is needed that allows examinations to be done easily and quickly at hospital or home. This is the concept called POCT (point-of-care testing), which means easy and quick testing carried out easily and quickly at or near the site of patient care. An indicator to quantitatively show a fair or poor physical condition is called a biomarker. To realize POCT, it is necessary to search for a science-based biomarker and develop a small inexpensive chip device to measure it. For implementation of such a device, huge interest is being taken in nanobiotechnology, which is an integration of bioscience and nanotechnology. A wide range of applications of nanobiotechnology is also expected in various fields such as predictive diagnosis, medical care, drug discovery and support for it, and the environment.

In general, there are two approaches of nanobiotechnology: top-down and bottom-up. The top-down approach analyzes biological phenomena and biomolecules using nanotechnology such as microfabrication technology. The bottom-up approach builds a molecular assembly and enhances its functions making use of the properties of biomolecules. Technologies for observation, measurement and manipulation at the nanoscale are also important as fundamental technologies. Because biomolecules contain in themselves structures for self-assembling and/or recognizing other molecules, bottom-up nanobiotechnology can be said to be a sort of supramolecular chemistry using biomolecules. The top-down approach is artificial and hard technology, while the bottom-up approach is soft technology that uses principles of biology and supramolecular chemistry. Combination of these technologies opens up various possibilities, for example, to fabricate a diagnostic chip with higher selectivity.

A feature and advantage of AIST is that researchers from life science and other various fields can work together to exercise their collective power. Another strength is that the environment is prepared to be favorable and appropriate for conducting interdisciplinary research such as nanobiotechnology. The research underway at AIST includes basic research to discover unknown phenomena or universal laws (Type 1 Basic Research), research to combine multiple pieces of scientific knowledge and technology (Type 2 Basic Research), and research to build up products (Product Realization Research). These are also conducted in a unified and concurrent manner (Full Research). Particularly, nanobiotechnology may be said to be representative of research centered on Type 2 Basic Research because the research evolves by integrating different disciplines. Research Institute for Cell Engineering, Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, and other research units are currently conducting research and development of cell and enzyme chips, disease marker sensors, stress measurement chips, predictive diagnosis chips, and other products, and are fostering personnel to lead the nanobiotechnology field in the future. Collaboration Promotion Department intends to promote cooperation with the industrial, governmental, academic, and other sectors through technological integration beyond interdisciplinary boundaries.

In the nanobiotechnology and other interdisciplinary fields, there is a serious shortage of personnel who can promote research and development. Thus, AIST established AIST Upbringing of Talent in Nanobiotechnology Course in FY 2003 (to FY 2007) by Promotion Budget for Science and Technology from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). This personnel fostering course consists of twelve full-time researchers belonging to AIST’s five research units in the fields of life science, material and nanotechnology, and information technology and offers the curriculum as shown in the figure below. In addition to lectures and technical training, the trainees practice research under the common major theme of creating a nanobiomachine using motor protein to acquire hands-on skills and knowledge. Personnel training is given to professionals such as postdocs, graduate students, and engineers at companies, and a total of fifty-one persons were trained in the three years from 2003 to 2005. For personnel training, efforts have been made to keep track of corporate needs by questionnaire or other means, and the majority of those who completed in 2005 are already taking an active part at the companies.

For more information, please access http://unit.aist.go.jp/rice/link/nanobio/ (in Japanese).