INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL PROMINENT RESEARCH

On November 18th, the Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR) will organize the 5th symposium at the Nishi-Chiba Campus.

There are two presentation categories: (1) GP Presentation, in which presenters will be subject to Excellent Presentation Award, and (2) Presentation by graduate students who were dispatched abroad by the GP Support Program for Youth Capacity Development. This year, presentations in category (1) and (2) will take place on a different day as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Here, you will find information on the program for category (1) , which is open to the general public. (For the Presentation by graduate students supported by the GP Program for Youth Capacity Development, click here).

In this event, the 23 research project teams will present their research in 1-minute (online recorded presentation) and will conduct online/onsite poster presentation.

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Prof. Shiki Yagai from Institute for Global Prominent Research. His lecture titled “Bend fibers but not your beliefs!” will be an inspiration for junior researchers and graduate students.

About

Date & Time : November 18th, 2020 (Wed), 13:00-17:00　
Venue : Main Hall (Keynote Lecture) and Meeting Room (Poster Session), Keyaki Kaikan, Nishi-Chiba Campus.
Online Tool : Zoom, Remo (TBC)

Keynote Lecture

• Title：Bend fibers but not your beliefs!

Lecturer：Prof. Shiki Yagai, Institute for Global Prominent Research
Abstract：About ten years ago, I discovered that nanofibers made up of pigments happened to become "rings". The "rings" becomes "helices" when opened and connected, and I succeeded in realizing the spiral. Then, next to this spiral, I found a "catenane" which is a structure of rings connected like a chain. The lab members were so excited -"Let's connect five rings (like the Olympic symbol) by the next Olympic games and publish a paper!" This was two years ago. Since then, we successfully connected 22 rings, much more than we initially intended, and we could also clarify the complex mechanism of the catenanes. We got permission from the IOC, and immediately after we submitted the paper to Nature in time for the Olympics... the Olympics has been postponed. The paper was successfully accepted and even after a month and a half, I received congratulatory emails from all over the world. Although the Olympics did not take place this year, I will be happy if this research could energize and encourage young researchers, especially in this time of uncertainty. I was able to connect a lot of rings while opening and extending the ring I found ten years ago. There is a creative atmosphere in my lab and young researchers are working hard to find original molecules to discover unknown phenomena. I am glad that I stood in my belief that something will still be found. I don't know what we will find next and I look forward to continuing this journey with the lab members.
Profile：
2002.4-2007.3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University
2006.10-2010.3 PRESTO researcher, Japan Science and Technology Agency
2010.2-2017.7 Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
2017.7- Professor, Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR), Chiba University

Awards：
Photochemical Society Encouragement Award (2009), Chemical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists (2011), Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Young Scientist Award (2011), Kao Research Encouragement Award (2012), Maruyama Memorial Research Encouragement Award (2012), 2012 Sekisui Chemical Award (2012), Asia Core Program Lectureship Award (2014), Konica Minolta Image Science Encouragement Award (2016), Swiss Chemical Society Lectureships Award (2017), Nagase Research Promotion Award (2018)
Research Group Website：Yagai Research Group

Program (TBC)

GP Presenation