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World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) Executive Summary (For Final Evaluation)

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World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) Executive Summary (For Final Evaluation) World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) Executive Summary (for Final Evaluation) Host Institution Osaka University Host Institution Head Shojiro Nishio Research Center Immunology Frontier Research Center Center Director Shizuo Akira About filling out this form: This summary is to be based on the Center’s Progress Report and Progress Plan, with reference to the following items, prepare the summary within a space of up to 6 pages. A. Progress Report of the WPI Center I. Summary IFReC was started as a sustainable innovative World Premier Institute of immunology in Osaka University. Our mission as a WPI is to accelerate immunology research as well as develop interdisciplinary studies with other fields, globalization of the university and our society, and system reform of the host institute. Headed by Director Shizuo Akira, an eminent immunologist, IFReC convenes approximately 30 of the world’s top-class principal investigators from Japan and overseas in the fields of immunology, live imaging and bioinformatics to conduct innovative immunological research. In March 2011, a new research building was completed on Osaka University’s Suita Campus providing superior research facilities and an international environment in which to focus on research. Immunology is definitely important in human health and social welfare. The researchers of IFReC have published over one thousand papers during 2007 to 2015. Almost 10% of them were published in high-impact journals such as Science, Cell, Nature, and their journal families. The production of Top 1% and Top 10% articles are much higher than average. The amount of competitive research funds obtained by IFReC researchers well exceeds the WPI program subsidy. IFReC scientists have been awarded for their brilliant achievements and significant impact on society. In particular, Akira and S. Sakaguchi were given the Canada Gairdner International Award, known as one of world's most prestigious awards. Kishimoto and Hirano were the first Japanese winners of the Crafoord Prize for their contribution not only to basic research but also for application to medical care. These evaluations in publication and awards demonstrate that the quality of science of IFReC has reached “the world top level”. IFReC research achievements have been disseminated to the general public through many PR and outreach activities. IFReC is promoting interdisciplinary research by establishing a live immune-imaging facility in the IFReC research building with animal rooms and a high-performance MRI and a two-photon microscope, and through programs to promote fusion research to encourage IFReC young researchers under the “Research Support Program for Combined Research Fields” and “Dual Mentor Program”. IFReC expanded collaboration with external organizations such as Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) of RIKEN and the Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet) of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). These collaborations have had a great effect on creating new interdisciplinary domains in IFReC. The high level of research activities at IFReC continues to attract many capable young researchers at home and from overseas. IFReC has employed a total of 49 postdocs out of 318 applicants through international open recruitment. The percentage of overseas researchers at all levels has satisfied the WPI target level of 30% during the WPI program except in the most recent two years. The research planning and management office together with the general affairs section in the administration office provides overseas researchers with a variety of support for research and daily life to comfortably devote themselves to their research. IFReC exchanged cooperative research agreements with four overseas institutions or organizations. In particular, one of the most successful cooperative activities with overseas institutes has been the “NIF Winter School on Advanced Immunology” jointly organized with Singapore Immunology Network. The School has been organized every winter since 2012 and has succeeded in globally fostering young researchers in the next generation, in raising the international visibility of IFReC and in promoting its internationalization. IFReC was given highest priority in the university’s strategy, and the university Osaka University -1 IFReC positioned “Immunology being promoted mainly by the leading role of the world premier research center” as one project for emphasis in the 2nd Medium-Term Plan. Authorized by Osaka University, the director makes major decisions regarding personnel and budget allocation as well as other administrative matters, to which the administrative director gives full support. To ensure the independence of IFReC management and research beyond the end of the WPI grant, IFReC and the host university have been taking measures including strengthening collaboration with industry. II. Items 1. Overall Image of Your Center The principal mission of IFReC is world-leading basic immunology to strongly impact the medical sciences. Our institute provides a highly-equipped research platform for young next generation researchers and world premier scientists who have contributed greatly in studies of cytokines, molecular mechanisms of innate immunity, cell death, and regulation of immune system. PI composition is maintained at the highest level through the retention of world-prominent scientists and recruiting of young and energetic scientists from all over the world. The center director, the vice directors and the administrative office continuously search for investigators and encourage them to study in the center. At the same time, we offer an excellent research environment that attracts prominent scientists to work and develop at IFReC. IFReC has implemented strategic measures to foster young researchers and to raise international visibility, such as IFReC colloquium, research support programs for interdisciplinary research and Winter School. Under these strategic measures, IFReC researchers lively conducted their research contributing to top level immunology. In over nine years since its launch, IFReC has implemented various activities to accomplish WPI four objectives. The WPI Program Committee concluded that IFReC achieved a “World Premier Status”, fully meeting the goal of the WPI program. Measures to sustain the center as a world premier international research center after program funding ends (including measures of support by the host institution and the government) are recognized as important issues, since about 60 percent of WPI grant is assigned for personnel costs. Through achieving WPI objectives, IFReC has been exerting utmost efforts to be a pinnacle of Osaka University. The University and IFReC are seeking to become a next-generation innovative institute for collaboration with various industries and organizations exceeding the boundaries of the campus. 2. Research Activities The research at IFReC has been maintained at a very high level in both quantitative and qualitative aspects ever since its establishment. The total number of papers by authors affiliated with IFReC during the period of 2007 to 2015 is 1090. In 2015 the average number of citations of these papers was 38.4 and the h-index of IFReC as a whole was 84 (WEB OF SCIENCETM by Thomson Reuters ©). The considerable increase in these factors since 2013 (total papers 809, citations 29.2, and h-index 65) demonstrates that IFReC has secured steady progress in immunology researches. The numbers for Top 1% Papers and Top 10% Papers (Percentage of highly cited papers published in the same research fields, publication years, and document type) were 58 and 290, respectively (InCites by Thomson Reuters ©). The productivity rate for Top 1% and Top 10% are 5.3 and 2.7 times higher than average values, which proves that the quality of science papers by IFReC scientists has reached the world top level. The laboratories in the IFReC research complex are designed for the specialties of the 17 research groups including live animal experiments, cell and molecular biology, as well as advanced imaging. The animal facility manages a specific pathogen-free (SPF) environment for animals that is indispensable for immunological research. This facility, with its impressive capacity to hold animals, provides researchers with the space for various animal experiments such as infectious experiments, cell transplantation and imaging experiments. The live-imaging facility contains a high performance 11.7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) instrument and an animal room to rear 700 mice in SPF environment, which enables the observation of immune phenomena in the same animals over a few weeks. One feature of the IFReC research support system is the Research Planning and Management Office (RPMO) in administration, which provides varied and intensive support for IFReC researchers. Osaka University -2 IFReC The amount of competitive research funds obtained by IFReC researchers well exceeds the WPI program subsidy. IFReC researchers have successfully raised funds for their own research. The total amount of competitive funds obtained by IFReC researchers is 9,215 million yen since FY2007. IFReC also has received a large sum of donations from the private sector including Kishimoto Foundation (650 million yen from FY2010 to FY2015) and pharmaceutical companies. These donations have supported overseas researchers to stay at IFReC, or have enabled the invitation of talented researchers to IFReC. IFReC has been promoting
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