Research and development in life sciences based on a large amount of genome sequence information has shown explosive progress, mainly in Europe and the United States. In the fields of health and medical care, the development of effective medical services based on individual characteristics is being actively conducted using genome sequence information, particularly in the fields of cancer and intractable diseases.

In response to the current global situation, there is still a delay in the construction of frameworks (human resources, technologies, information infrastructure, etc.) to efficiently utilize genomic information in our country. Furthermore, data in this field are not sufficiently reflected in academic and industrial achievements. There are also a number of incidents that have cast a significant shadow on the future of Japanese industry. This includes the acceleration of overseas relocation of corporate research bases and researchers due to delays in the framework construction and environmental preparations.

However, we believe that now is the time to reverse this situation. The main reason for this is the recent major innovation in large-scale measurement techniques that enable precise and multimodal analysis of single-cell analysis. Indeed, genome research is at the turning point from a structural science centered on genome sequence information to functional science centered on gene expression at the level of a single cell. This "structure-to-function" change will greatly improve our understanding of how gene mutations lead to diseases which would lead to the development of novel therapies that address gene mutations. This change is the exact response to the prevailing criticism that while genomic medicine can provide diagnosis, it is not a cure.

We would like to greatly contribute to the development of genomic research in Japan by seizing this opportunity, anticipating the structure-to-function changes in genomic research, establishing a foundation that is conducive to world-class genomic function research, accelerating research and development in various fields including genomic medicine and building an environment that contributes to the development of human resources who will lead the next generation.

With this in mind, we decided to construct the Kashiwa-no-ha Omics Gate, which aims to provide companies and research institutions with a safe environment and a base for the analysis of genome information that allows them to access genome information in Kashiwanoha — the melting pot of research institutions with the world's state-of-the-art in genome functional analysis and genome information analysis. This will contribute to the progress of genomic research and development in our country and will also lead the world's advanced research areas. From the perspective of actively and continuously working to achieve this goal, we will establish the Kashiwa-no-ha Omics Gate here as a place for diverse research and development while aiming for wide-ranging collaboration between industry, academia, and government collaboration. It depends on initiating.

2020.04
Kashiwa-no-ha Omics Gate
Representative Director Sumio Sugano