Team:Hong Kong HKUST/hp/article/jp

Overview

In this country profile, information about of synthetic biology in Japan has been compiled from on-line sources. Searches were conducted only in English media. This country profile contains information about different aspects of synthetic biology in Japan, including regulation, perception, and organization.

Synthetic biology in Japan is somewhat artificially underrepresented because very few researchers identify their work as related to synthetic biology. Most researchers instead classify their work using more established terms, such as ‘systems biology’. This also could be related to very few people in Japan recognizing the term “synthetic biology” (Mori & Yoshizawa, 2011). Nonetheless, Japan is one of the leading Asian countries in synthetic biology. It is the Asian country with the most entries on the SynBio map ("Synthetic biology project:," ). Also, Japanese universities have regularly participated and gained high achievements in the iGEM competition.

Synbio Map

SynBio Map identifies and locates companies, universities, research institutions, laboratories and other centers across the globe that are active in synthetic biology research ("Synthetic biology project:,"). It is a good tool for comparing the growth of synthetic biology around the world. This map was created by the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Japan is a leading Asian country in synthetic biology. It has a total of 22 entries. Synthetic biology research is focused in or near the capital, Tokyo. Around half of the entries (13) are from this region. Other regions listed in the map include: Kyoto (5), Osaka (1), Sapporo (2), and Nagoya (1) ("Synthetic biology project:," ). It is notable that in comparison with China and South Korea, Japan has more private companies participating in synthetic biology research. In fact, one third of the entries for Japan in the SynBio map are private companies. Japan has the largest bio-technology industry and therefore large capability for private companies to be involved in synthetic biology.


Although Japan is a leading Asian nation in synthetic biology, its footprint is relatively small compared to synthetic biology in western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, with 360 and 50 entries on the SynBio map respectively.

However the SynBio Map may not provide an accurate picture of synthetic biology in Japan since, as mentioned previously, relevant work there is classified under more traditional fields. In the SynBio map webpage, it states that the entries listed are strictly those indicated as synthetic biology work. Many researchers in Japan who do studies that could be seen as synthetic biology have not felt a need to classify their work as such, particularly when it is already classified under another category (Mori, 2011).

Participation in the iGEM Competition

Japan is one of the Asian countries that have many universities that participate in the iGEM competition. 12 teams from 11 different Japanese universities participated in the competition (in 2012, Tokyo University had two different teams). In 2012, out of 51 Asian teams that participated, 11 of them were from Japan. Also, Japanese universities have great achievements in the competition. For example, all Japanese universities that participated in the 2009 and 2010, managed to get medals ("Synthetic biology based," ).

Chiba University and Tokyo Institute of Technology are first two Japanese universities that joined the competition in 2006. Tokyo Institute of Technology participated all of the iGEM competition in the subsequent years. They have received Gold medals each year from 2007 to 2012. Chiba University only participated from 2006 to 2010 ("Synthetic biology based," ).
The following table summarizes the achievements of the Japanese universities from 2006 to 2012 iGEM competition.

Biotechnology Industry & Funds

The market size of biotechnology industry in Japan is around US$ 18 billion. Biotech clusters in Japan exist in 5 major cities, namely: Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Most biotechnology industries in Japan are operated as business activities within pre-existing large technology Japanese corporations. In 2010, the Japanese government invested US$ 50 to 60 billion in sciences and technology with life science being viewed as an area for significant future growth. Many companies are therefore looking for chances to benefit from this opportunity ("The Japanese market," ).


One example of a government funded research institute is Okinawa Health Biotechnology Research and Development Center. It provides free research facilities to biotechnology companies. It also promotes the development of manufactured products through collaboration between government, industry, and academia ("The future of," 2011).

Regulations for Synthetic Biology

In a life science workshop in 2006, “design and reproduction of life function” was highlighted by the Center for Research and Development Strategy, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST CRDS) as a field with principle priority. Also, in cooperation with local experts in fields related to synthetic biology, the Council of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology proposed a policy to promote research on synthetic biology. At the same time, it considered the need to draft regulations against improper applications of synthetic biology. Although following the pre-existing “Law Concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity through Regulations on the Use of Living Modified Organisms” could minimize the occurrence of a serious problem, it would be necessary to improve regulation of synthetic biology by specifically mentioning it in a new law (Mori & Yoshizawa, 2011).

Perception of Synthetic Biology

In 2010, only 15% of the population was familiar with the term synthetic biology. This term showed up in 15 articles in the 5 major Japanese newspapers. The relatively low degree of social recognition is probably because significant discoveries of synthetic biology have not been widely reported, and researchers use terms other than synthetic biology such as molecular biology and systems biology to describe their work (Mori & Yoshizawa, 2011).

People

Hirohide Saito, Koji Sode, Kenichi Yamazaki are examples of Japanese scientists who have interest in synthetic biology.

References