The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Japan’s largest multidisciplinary research organisation, RIKEN, have launched a new research centre, with a focus on biology, life science and materials science. The two institutes, which have collaborated in the past, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday.
The RIKEN-NCBS Joint Research Centre will help facilitate an exchange of researchers and doctoral students working on biological sciences between these two institutes and their allied institutions: the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms.
“The establishment of the Joint Research Centre allows researchers from our campus to explore substantive collaborations with excellent scientists ranging from the computational to those exploring the wiring of the brain to physicists who study material properties with cutting-edge tools,” said Satyajit Mayor, Director, NCBS.
RIKEN also recently signed an MoU with the Indian government’s Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Science and Technology. According to an NCBS press release, the Japanese institute will launch a joint research centre with two other top science institutions in Bangalore, the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
“The RIKEN-JNCASR-IISc Joint Research Centre will support collaboration and facilitate the exchange of research scientists and students, working in the fields of materials science and life science research, between the three institutions,” the press release said.
