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“Okayama University supports the Sustainable Development Goals”
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Contents
Contribution
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals
Natural Resources Management Officer, FAO
Junko Nakai

FeatureOkayama University establishes the SDGs Promotion Headquarters

News・ The Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems wasestablished in April 2018
・ Second visit of Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes Delegation to Okayama University:
strengthening a "promising powerful partnership"
・ Okayama University Hospital successfully completes the first lung transplant between two
people of different sizes in Japan・ Yutaka Hani, a member of the Shogi Club, gains revenge for his last year’s defeat and becomes
the student shogi meijin master

Research Highlights
・ Preferential delivery of boron to developing tissues in rice・ Movie of molecules in liquid-crystal – molecular motions in one trillionth seconds
・ Unveiling “nano-scissors” required for endocytosis of synaptic vesicles

TopicsRadio Message from International Students (World Heartful Message)

Further information
About Okayama University

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Contribution

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Sustainable
Development Goals
Natural Resources Management Officer, FAO
Junko Nakai
From the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were
the first of its kind to bring together the nations
around the world to work toward concrete global
targets in development. The MDGs envisioned to createa world by 2015, in which the proportion of people
suffering from extreme poverty and hunger was halved
as well as that from lack of sustainable access to safe
drinking water, the spread of

HIV/AIDS wascontained, universal primary education was achieved
with gender parity, the mortality rate of children under
Okayama University invited Dr. Nakai to talk on the SDGs on
October 24, 2017

five was reduced by two-thirds, and environmental
considerations were integrated into country policies
and programmes.

The MDGs were signed by 189 countries and monitored with 21 targets and 60 indicators. At theirconclusion, the targets met were on: extreme poverty, access to safe drinking water, living conditions ofslum dwellers, gender disparity in primary and secondary education, and incidence of malaria. The othertargets, in particular those related to education and health were achieved successfully by very few of thesignatory countries, about 10-20%.
The causes of shortfall were identified by many, ranging from insufficiency in commitment, resources,
focus and accountability to limitations in various other aspects: the elaboration process (the consultation
was not sufficiently inclusive), the structure (the variations among countries and the linkages between theGoals were neglected), the content (equity, equality and environmental issues were not properly addressed)
and the implementation and enforcement (reliable and comparable data and evidence on feasibility were
scarce, and no practical roadmap existed). The MDG framework has been summed up as one that rests on
the idea of “rich helps the poor.” The international agencies adjusted, estimated, or modeled close to halfof the data used by the MDGs, which led to policy implications divergent from what was based on national
data.

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompass the goals set forth by the MDGs and much beyond,with 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators. The SDGs are more inclusive in scope and approach the
topics of inequality and sustainability as universal themes; they define themselves to be the goals for thehumanity and the planet, and pledge to leave no one behind. Consequently, the SDGs are more ambitious
than the MDGs in their targets; instead of halving the population in poverty, for example, the SDGs aim
to eradicate poverty. Unlike the MDGs, the SDGs recognize that development is not a purely economic
phenomenon, but also a matter of inclusiveness and the environment; these elements are interconnected
and the latter two need to be fully mainstreamed for development in the true sense of the word. The
formulation process of SDGs was global in scale and through intensive stakeholder engagement.１ The
worldwide stakeholder engagement continues into the implementation phase through the Partnerships for
the SDGs online platform.
Some of the criticisms of the MDGs are carried over to the SDGs, namely that the Goals are unrealistic,lack legal binding, and leave room for political maneuvering at the national level. The question of how to
obtain reliable, disaggregated data at the national level is yet to be resolved. A review of the SDG targets
concluded that among the total 169 targets, 49 were well developed, 91 could be strengthened by being
more specific, and the remaining 29 required significant revision for practical use.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the SDGs
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has chosen Goal 2 of the SDGs, as its
flagship Goal: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainableagriculture,” or “Zero hunger” for short. It is a natural choice given that the Organization’s mandate is tosupport members in their efforts to ensure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food. Its
five Strategic Objectives as well as many of its initiatives are in line with the Goal.２ The Committee on
Agriculture (COAG) – a governing body under FAO – has more than 100 member-nations and provides
policy and regulatory guidance on agriculture, livestock, food safety, nutrition, rural development andnatural resources management. The Organization has also established a platform called the Global
Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB), which is an information clearing housefor sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. The Committee on World Food
Security (CFS) is an inclusive international and intergovernmental platform to ensure food security andnutrition for all. It develops and endorses policy recommendations and guidance on food security andnutrition, and reports to the UN General Assembly and FAO Conference. The Codex Alimentarius is acollection of standards, guidelines and codes of practices for the purpose of ensuring consumer health andfair practices in food trade. Its Commission is housed under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards
Programme.
In relation to the SDGs, the key messages of the FAO have been officially defined as: food and agriculture
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can contribute massively to achieving the SDGs; FAO is supporting countries in achieving the 2030
Agenda;3 and, we achieve Zero Hunger if we work together. FAO has made a commitment to end extreme
poverty, hunger and malnutrition, to promote sustainable agriculture and sustainable use of biodiversity
and natural resources for development, and to fight against and building resilience to climate change. The
SDGs aim to be strategies that are nationally owned and supported by integrated national financial
framework. In this context, FAO assists member countries to achieve transformational changes proposedby the SDGs through designing, implementing, and monitoring policies, programmes, investments andpartnerships at national and regional levels.
FAO believes that SDG 2 calls for accelerated investment in food and agriculture, which will be catalytic
for changes across all Goals. The goal of zero hunger will necessarily end extreme poverty, hunger andmalnutrition, and promote sustainable management of natural resources. Moreover, moves toward zero
hunger will require mitigating climate change, while adapting and building resistance to it. In other words,
food and agriculture represent the fundamental connection between people and the planet, and FAO’s
commitment to end hunger will contribute toward achievement of no poverty (Goal 1), good health andwell-being (Goal 3), gender equality (Goal 5), clean water and sanitation (Goal 6), decent work andeconomic growth (Goal 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (Goal 9), reduced inequalities (Goal 10),
responsible consumption and production (Goal 12), climate action (Goal 13), life below water (Goal 14), life
on land (Goal 15), and peace, justice and strong institutions (Goal 16).４

Monitoring the SDG Targets
Each global SDG indicator has a ‘custodian’ agency assigned by the UN Inter-agency and Expert Group on
SDG indicators, a working group of the UN Statistical Commission. Their responsibilities lie in compilation,verification and aggregation of country data and metadata as well as in submission of the data to the1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
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international standards,

recommendation of monitoring methodologies and strengthening national monitoring and reporting
capacity also fall on the shoulders of these agencies so that the country data would be internationallycomparable. In case data estimation or adjustment is required, the agencies will engage the country inquestion to carry it out. FAO is custodian of 21 indicators５ and assumes a lesser role of a contributing
agency for 4 additional ones.６
FAO has long been engaged in relevant data collection and analysis. It monitors: the FAO Food Price Index,
a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities; FAOSTAT, acountry-specific information on production, trade, inputs, emission, investment, and so on, all in relation
to agriculture; the State of Food Insecurity in the World provides data on undernourishment by country
and region. The Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), whose Secretariat includes FAO, unites
the major trading countries of agricultural commodities to assess global food supplies and to provide aplatform to coordinate policy actions when commodity markets are volatile. The Global Food Market
Information Group functions under AMIS to provide reliable, accurate, timely and comparable market andpolicy data and information. The COAG activities are supported by the Monitoring and Analyzing Foodand Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) program; it collects, assembles and uses policy-relevant data –such as
prices, market access costs and public expenditure as well as policy decisions – in the food and agriculture
sector in fifteen developing countries.
The progress thus far with respect to zero hunger suggests that we need to accelerate our efforts. At thepresent rate of advancement, hunger will persist beyond 2030 and achieving the 2020 target on
maintaining genetic diversity will be difficult. Malnutrition still affects an alarmingly high number ofchildren under age 5, and foreign and domestic official investments in agriculture are lagging.
Challenges Behind the Scenes – Coordination, Data Collection and Communication
All of the SDGs have been chosen as goals in one way or another before, but never as a set of goals to be
implemented in an integrated manner. The organizations involved are required to coordinate with eachother, another long-standing issue to be realized.
Assessing the results of our actions, or monitoring, is crucial in achieving progress toward the goals. Whiledata are necessary but not sufficient for meeting any goal, we can say that attainment of the SDGs would
greatly depend on accurate and timely data that are analyzed systematically and made available to the
public. If we are to leave no one behind and be truly inclusive, data on different social groups, namely
disaggregated data, is indispensable. In fact, one of the important lessons learned from our MDG
experience is that, although the goals are globally stated, the world is quite heterogenous and we need to
pay attention to the divides – rural-urban, regional, demographic and income – so that development would
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be attained by all, and hence sustainable. Unfortunately, disaggregation is not yet widely adopted by thenational statistical systems. As much as SDGs are ambitious, they venture into territories where regular
data collection is not a routine.７ In many countries, administrative statistics – including civil registrationand other fundamental data – need to be strengthened for full participation in the SDGs, which are basedon the principle of national ownership. FAO is recognized as one of the key institutions in developing
methods and standards for food and agriculture statistics and in providing assistance to countries in needin the field of monitoring.８
Finally, for galvanizing the public to take actions toward the SDGs, it is crucial to communicate with themfrequently in an engaging and consistent manner. FAO has devised a communication strategy to that end,
whose key message is: food and agriculture are the fundamental connection between people and the planet,
and its commitment to end hunger will contribute toward achievement of the Sustainable Development
Goals.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------１

During the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, nine sectors ofsociety were formally distinguished as “Major Groups,” through which broad participation would befacilitated in the UN activities on sustainable development: women, children and youth, indigenous
peoples, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, workers and trade unions, business andindustry, scientific and technological community, and farmers. The inputs from the Major Groups andother stakeholders on the SDGs were coordinated by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of
the United Nations through its Stakeholders Engagement Programme, which included online
questionnaire that was accessible to anyone with internet connection. An Open Working Group of theGeneral Assembly was tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs, most of whose 30 seats were sharedby several countries.
２

The Strategic Objectives of FAO are: help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; makeagriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable; reduce rural poverty; enable inclusive
and efficient agricultural and food systems; and increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.
３

The SDGs are laid out in Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

General Assembly Resolution, 70/1 of 25 September 2015. A/RES/70/1.
４

It has been argued that other SDGs could also be simultaneously promoted by our efforts to end hunger.

Hunger is related to education (Goal 4), as chronic malnutrition reduces intellectual capacity.

Zerohunger is achievable by practicing sustainable agriculture, which most likely relies on affordable, easily
accessible, and reliable energy supplies for operating machineries, including those for post-harvest
processing, storage and transportation; it is related to Goal 7, affordable and clean energy. Finally, zero
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hunger is in synch with sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11), because improvements in food andnutritional security, in addition to more sustainable food production, would give a push toward
inclusiveness and sustainability of cities.
５

It concerns nine indicators under Goal 2, Zero hunger (Hunger, Severity of food insecurity, Productivityof small-scale food producers, Income of small-scale food producer, Agricultural sustainability,
Conservation of genetic resources for food and agriculture, Risk status of livestock breeds, Public
investment in agriculture, Food price volatility); two under Goal 5, Gender equality (Women’s ownershipof agricultural land, Women’s equal rights to land ownership); two under Goal 6, Clean water andsanitation (Water use efficiency, Water stress); one under Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and
Production (Global food losses), four under Goal 14, Life below water (Fish stocks sustainability, Illegal,
unreported unregulated fishing, Value added of sustainable fisheries, Access rights for small-scale
fisheries); and, three under Goal 15, Life on land (Forest area, Sustainable forest management, MountainGreen Cover Index). Mountain Green Cover Index is an indicator developed by FAO to monitor Target 15.4:“By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, to enhance theircapacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development.” The Index measures changesof the green vegetation in mountain areas, on the recognition of a positive correlation between green
coverage of mountain areas and their state of health and capacity to fulfil their ecosystem roles.
６

One indicator under Goal 1, No poverty (Disaster economic loss); one under Goal 14, Frameworks forconservation and sustainable use of oceans’ resources) and two under Goal 15, Life on land (Landdegradation, Frameworks for fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources’ benefits).
７

An example of a novel statistics is the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. It is an estimate of the

proportion of the population facing difficulties in accessing food, at different levels of severity, based ondata collected through interviews.
８

Most of the FAO’s statistics programmes mentioned above already contain strengthening of national

capacities in data collection and analysis. One of the new methodologies that FAO promotes is theAgricultural Research Information System (AGRIS): collection of consistent and accurate data for
integrated agricultural survey systems at national and subnational levels, using Computer-Assisted
Interviewing techniques.

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References
AMIS, 2015. AMIS, About AMIS.
http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-about/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
Committee on Food Security, undated. Committee on Food Security.
http://www.fao.org/cfs (accessed 13 July 2018)
Coonrod, John, 2014. MDGs to SDGs: Top 10 Differences
https://advocacy.thp.org/2014/08/08/mdgs-to-sdgs/ (accessed 11 July 2018)
FAO, undated. Our Priorities: The FAO Strategic Objectives.
FAO, 2015. Mountain Partnership, Monitoring progress on mountains in the SDGs.
http://www.fao.org/mountain-partnership/our-work/advocacy/2030-agenda-forsustainable-development/mountain-green-cover-index/en/ (accessed 12 July 2018)
FAO, 2017. Communicating the SDGs. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
FAO, 2017. FAO and SDG Indicators: Indicators: Measuring up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
FAO, 2017. FAOSTAT, Data.
http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data (accessed 13 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. About FAO.
http://www.fao.org/about/what-we-do/en/ (accessed 12 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. Committee on Agriculture (COAG).
http://www.fao.org/coag/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. Communicating #Zero Hunger. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
FAO, 2018. Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building.
http://www.fao.org/in-action/plant-breeding/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. MAFAP, Programme Overview, What we do.
http://www.fao.org/in-action/mafap/programme-overview/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. Sustainable Development Goals, SDG indicators.
http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/en/ (accessed 12 July 2018)
FAO, 2018. World Food Situation, FAO Food Price Index.
http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
FAO/WHO. 2018. Codex Alimentarius: International Food Standards.
http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/en/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
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Fehling, Maya, et al., 2013. Limitations of the Millennium Development Goals: a literature review. Global
Public Health. Vol. 8, No. 10, 2013: 1109-1122.
ICSU, ISSC, 2015. Review of the Sustainable Development Goals: The Science Perspective. Paris:
International Council for Science.
Joshi, Kaushal, 2015. “Transitioning from Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) Monitoring: Lessons Learned.” Presented at the International Seminar on World
Statistics, “Sustainable Data for Sustainable Development," October 2015.
MDG Achievement Fund, undated. Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.mdgfund.org/node/922 (accessed 11 July 2018)
Mollier, Ludovic, et al., 2017. “SDG 2 End Hunger, Achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition andPromote Sustainable Agriculture.“ In: Stevance A.S. (coord.) A Guide to SDG interactions: from science toimplementation. Paris: ICSU.
Risse, Nathalie, 2017. IISD, Getting Up to Speed to Implement the SDGs: Facing the
Challenges.
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Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, 2018. 2 ZEROHUNGER.
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Sustainable Development Goals, SDG Indicators.
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July 2018)
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United Nations, 2015. Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. General
Assembly Resolution, 70/1 of 25 September 2015. A/RES/70/1.
United Nations General Assembly, 2010. Keeping the Promise: a forward-looking review to promote anagreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Report of the Secretary
General. Sixty-fourth session, Agenda items 48 and 114. 12 February 2010. A/64/665.
UNDP and the International Organizations Clinic of the NYU School of Law, 2016. Follow-up and review of
the Sustainable Development Goals under the High Level Political Forum. New York: United Nations
Development Programme.
UNDP and the World Bank Group, 2016. Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs.
UNICEF, 2014. Statistics and Monitoring, Millennium Development Goals (MDG) monitoring.
https://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_24304.html (accessed 11 July 2018)
Woodbridge, Michael, 2015. “From MDGs to SDGs: What are the Sustainable Development Goals?”
ICLEI BRIEFING SHEET - Urban Issues, No. 01, November 2015.

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FeatureOkayama University establishes the SDGs Promotion Headquarters
In 2017 Okayama University held the world’s first international conference on the attainment of SDGs in
Okayama City in cooperation with other organizations. Notably, Okayama University was the only
national university to be a recipient of the first Japan SDGs Awards organized by the Japanes Government.
This year Okayama University continues to undertake
more wide ranging activities to lead the world. First, Vice
Executive Director and Senior University Global
Administrator (UGA) Atsufumi Yokoi gave a speech atthe

GlobalFestivalof

Actionfor

Sustainable

Development, held in Bonn, Federal Republic of
Germany from March 21 to 23, 2018. This festival is aninternational conference held annually by the United
Nations SDG Action Campaign to introduce the efforts ofVice Executive Director and UGA Yokoi giving aorganizations that have received SDGs-related awards.

speechHe introduced the University’s efforts to promote the SDGs and delivered a message stating that the
University will take a strong lead from the Okayama area, encouraging people throughout the world toimplement the SDGs. After his speech at the conference, he said, “The formulation of the SDGs made us
realize that the efforts towards sustainable development that the Okayama area and Okayama University
had facilitated over a long period of time were worthy of attracting worldwide attention. It is importantfor us to deliver a strong message to the world from Okayama and Japan in the future.”
In March 2018, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of theConvention

on Biological Diversity and share efforts at

all levels from local to global to help conserve biodiversity
and achieve the SDGs, the International Day for
Biological Diversity Symposium “Biodiversity and
SDGs” was hosted by the Ministry of Environment,
Okayama

University,

UnitedNations

University

Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability(UNU-IAS), Global Environment Outreach Centre(GEOC), and Sustainable Development Solutions Network(SDSN) Japan at the Elizabeth Rose Conference Hall in the

President Makino introduced an effort for the
SDGs

United Nations University (Shibuya City, Tokyo).
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President Hirofumi Makino delivered a lecture titled “Partnerships Resonating with Each Other—
Okayama University’s Initiatives for Contributing to the SDGs.” Citing specific cases, President Makino
introduced Okayama University’s own process of making STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) for
the SDGs a reality to solve social challenges, a role that should be played by universities, whilestrengthening partnerships with other organizations in other regions and countries.
In the latter half of the symposium, a panel discussion was held with the theme of Biodiversity and SDGs
with Dr. Chigusa Hanaoka, Senior Research Administrator at Okayama University acting as the facilitator.
Panelists representing business, academic and governmental organizations shared their specific actions at
Okayama Prefecture to conserve biodiversity and help achieve the SDGs. They highlighted the fact thatsuch actions at the local level help make local communities more attractive and that these actions need tobe replicated throughout Japan and the rest of the world. They also discussed the role of academic
institutions in human resource development and technical support. Then Dr. Hanaoka concluded the panel
discussion by summarizing the initiatives of business, academic and government circles to continue anddevelop biodiversity conservation activities while pursuing the SDGs. At the end of the symposium, Mr.
Naohisa Okuda, director of the Biodiversity Policy Division, Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of
the Environment delivered the closing address.
In addition, Okayama University is also putting efforts into activities rooted in local Okayama. The
University hosted the Health Festa in Okayama for the first time with the Sanyo Shimbun Co., Ltd. andsome other organizations at Okayama Convention Center on May 3 and 4.
This year’s festa, which was held as a project commemorating the 150th anniversary of Okayama
University’s Medical School and as a project that can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), was designed to encourage all people of all ages to live a heathy life, thereby contributing to theirwelfare.
The event featured two special lectures and 18 open lectures offered by faculty members from Okayama
University and other academic institutions as well as exhibition and hands-on-learning booths for healthand medical information. During the two days, a total of about 4,000 visitors deepened their knowledge
about health.
In the open lectures, speakers explained how to treat and prevent familiar disorders such as locomotive
syndrome, lifestyle diseases and dementia. The audience listened intently, taking pictures and notes.
Exhibition and hands-on learning booths included the SDGs Promotion Booth, which informed visitors
about the University’s efforts to help achieve SDGs, the Okayama University Hospital Division of
Nursing’s Booth, and corporate sponsors’ booths.
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From now on, the University will promote efforts to achieve SDGs. In cooperation with the world, we willcontinue our strong and steady unique activities that can only be done in Okayama based on the “fruitfulacademic capital” of Makino Vision.

Further information
About SDGs (the United Nations)
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
About an approach to SDGs of Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/profile/okayama-sdgs.html
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7501.html
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7638.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7420.html
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7578.html
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7526.html

Reference (Okayama University e-Bulletin)
e-Bulletin vol.21：Okayama University Hosts World’s First International Conference on
Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/user/kouhou/ebulletin/feature/vol21/feature_001.html

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News

The Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health
Systems was established in April 2018
The Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems was established in
April 2018 as the eighth graduate school of Okayama University.
Under the theme of “health systems,” which deal with challenges in real-life healthcare situations, theGraduate School focuses on developing students’ problem-solving skills—they learn to use a cycle ofidentifying problems and their backgrounds, analyzing the problems, developing solutions, and thenimplementing the solutions to improve real-life situations in a scientific way. The Graduate School is thefirst in 13 years established by Okayama University.
Its signboard unveiling ceremony was held on April 5.The
ceremony was attended by President Hirofumi Makino,
Executive Director and Executive Vice President for
Planning, Evaluation and General Affairs Dr. Kayo
Takahashi, about 50 faculty and staff members, including
Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Masaharu Seno, and about
80 master’s and doctoral course students (the very firststudents of the graduate school). At the ceremony, President
Makino said, “It’s important for the University to establish
graduate schools that can meet the demands of the times to

President Hirofumi Makino, Dr. Kayo Takahashi, andDr. Masaharu Seno unveiled the signboard

promote necessary research.” Dr. Seno said, “Individual efforts and cooperation by all faculty and staff
members and students are essential in making this graduate school perfectly unique and meaningful.”
On June 23, Okayama University held an event to celebrate
the establishment of the Graduate School. The celebration
event was attended by many people including local public
officials and corporate representatives. Congratulatory
speeches were made by Mr. Yutaka Takimoto, Deputy
Director-General for Coordination between Upper Secondary
Schools and Universities and Higher Education Bureau, theMinistry of

Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology; Dr. Stephen Lanier, Vice President for Research

Mr. Yutaka Takimoto delivered a congratulatory
addressand Dr. Ahmad Ezzeddine, Associate Vice President for
Educational Outreach and International Programs, both from Wayne State University in the U.S.; and1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
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Mr. Hisashi Matsuda, Chairperson of System Engineering Okayama and Former Chairperson of the
Okayama Association of Corporate Executives. President Hirofumi Makino emphasized in his greeting
how well the Graduate School matches the trends of the times. Subsequently, Dr. Masaharu Seno, Deanof the Graduate School, referred to various challenges of modern society, such as the aging population
alongside the declining birthrate and deadlocked regional economies and explained the purpose of the
Graduate School by saying, “We promote innovative education and research through collaborations
between medicine and engineering and through the integration of arts and sciences, and develop students
into excellent human resources capable of identifying problems, creating things and ideas that can solve
the problems, and then putting them to actual use in society, thereby minimizing social challenges andcontributing to everyone’s benefit.”

Further information
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7473.html
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7709.html

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News

Second visit of Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes Delegation to Okayama
University: strengthening a "promising powerful partnership"
A delegation from Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes inFrance visited President Hirofumi Makino at Okayama
University on May 15, 2018.
Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes and Okayama
University signed a university-level agreement of cooperationand student exchange appendix in September 2015.
Group photograph to commemorate the visit

This was the second visit since May 2017, offering theopportunity to review all collaborative activities presently
ongoing and those to be possibly developed.
The delegation consisted of Ms. Elisa Glangeaud, Head ofInternational Relations Office at the Communauté Université
Grenoble Alpes, Ms. Sandrine Vernet, Head of International
Affairs at Sciences Po Grenoble, and Ms. Caroline Pieton,
International Relations Officer at Grenoble Institute of

Session to exchange views on collaborative

Polytechnique de Grenoble.

activities

During the meeting, President Makino and Ms. Glangeaud
exchanged views on our partnerships, and a common future vision was recognized in “Achieving fruitfulacademic capital and further strengthening our collaborations, particularly via medical-related ones.”
Subsequently on the same day, an exchanging session was held also with our researchers and the students
from Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes. It was opened by Executive Vice-President for Research,
Daiji Takeuchi, giving a brief introduction of recent activities of Okayama University. At the session the
representatives from Okayama University explained the Graduate School of Natural Science andTechnology and its research, the Discovery Program for Global Learners, the ERASMUS+ International
Credit Mobility (ICM) program, Global Science Campus in Okayama, and several joint researchcollaborations with Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes. The session was concluded with the closing
remarks by Ms. Glangeaud, evaluating the results of our recent partnership and promising powerfulcollaborations.

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Both universities could reconfirm our strong partnership through this visit. We will have a further
relationship in wide-ranging fields of research and education.

Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7653.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7588.html

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News

Okayama University Hospital successfully completes the first lung transplant
between two people of different sizes in JapanOn April 27, Okayama University Hospital successfullycompleted a lung transplant between two people of different
sizes—a brain-dead donor and a female patient (recipient) in
her 50s suffering from a serious lung disease. This was the firstlung transplant of this kind in Japan since the Ministry of
Health, Labour and Welfare revised the organ transplantguidelines in March 2014 to allow recipients smaller thanbrain-dead donors to receive an organ transplant.

The operation was performed by Dr.Oto and staff

The female patient in her 50s was suffering from interstitial pneumonia, a complication from connective
tissue disease. She had no choice but to receive a lung transplant for her survival, but she had no living
relatives who were able to give her a lung. Since her lungs became too small for her frame and her interstitial
pneumonia was progressing quickly, she was put on the Japan Organ Transplant Network’s waiting list on
March 5, 2018. Her lung transplant operation, which was performed by Dr. Takahiro Oto, a professor at
Okayama University Hospital Organ Transplant Center, started around 11am on April 27. A part of eachlung from the brain-dead donor was transplanted into each of the patient’s lungs. The operation was
finished in about seven and a half hours. The patient is in stable condition and is expected to leave thehospital in about three months.
Professor Oto said, “Up until now, patients have never been selected as transplant candidates unless theirlungs have been almost the same size as the donors’ lungs. With the revised guidelines that allow morepatients to become candidates for lung transplants, we’d like more pediatric patients and small adultpatients to receive lung transplants.”
Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7633.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7538.html

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News

Yutaka Hani, a member of the Shogi Club, gains revenge for his last year’s defeat
and becomes the student shogi meijin masterYutaka Hani, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Law andmember of the Okayama University Shogi (Japanese Chess)Club won the 74th Student Shogi Meijin Tournament held inTokyo on May 26 and 27. It was his first victory in thetournament in his final year at the university after taking
second place in the same tournament last year.
A total of 32 strong amateur student players who advanced
from the regional preliminaries fought fiercely during this two-

Mr. Hani, a member of the Okayama University
Shogi Club

day tournament. Hani will participate in the 12th Asahi Cup
Shogi Open Tournament scheduled in July as a representativeof amateur student shogi players and compete against
professional players. He will also be invited to participate in the
47th Student Shogi Osho Tournament, a national individual
shogi tournament for college students scheduled in December.
Hani commented about his victory: “Since I became a fourthyear student, I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to spend
much time practicing. So no one was more surprised than me

Mr. Hani (right) playing with membersthat I won the tournament. It was good to be able to take iteasy and enjoy playing shogi. I’ll do my best in games with professional players and try to learn fromthem.”

Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7729.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7600.html

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Research Highlights

Preferential delivery of boron to developing tissues in rice
Boron is an essential element for plant growth and development. In particular, developing tissues such as
meristem require high amounts of boron for their active growth. However, it is not known how boron ispreferentially delivered to these tissues with low transpiration.
Now, Jian Feng Ma and his colleagues at the Institute of Plant Science and Resources report that atransporter (OsNIP3;1) expressed in rice nodes is responsible for the preferential distribution of boron to
the developing tissues. OsNIP3;1 is polarly localized at the xylem parenchyma cells of enlarged vascularbundles of nodes facing towards the xylem vessels. Knockout of this gene resulted in decreased distributionof boron to new leaves but increased distribution to old leaves causing inhibition of new leaf growth.
Furthermore, this transporter responded to environmental boron changes at both transcriptional andprotein levels.
This work revealed a novel mechanism for preferential distribution of boron in plants and will contributeto breed boron -use efficiency crops under boron-limited conditions in future.

Role of OsNIP3:1 in preferential distribution

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Reference:

Authors
Ji Feng Shao, Naoki Yamaji, Xin Wei Liu, Kengo Yokosho, Ren Fang Shen and Jian Feng Ma
Title of original paper
Preferential Distribution of Boron to Developing Tissues Is Mediated by the Intrinsic Protein OsNIP3
Journal, volume, pages and year
Plant Physiology 176, 1739–1750 (2018).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1104/pp.17.01641
Journal website
http://www.plantphysiol.org/
Affiliations
Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University
Department website
http://www.rib.okayama‐u.ac.jp/plant.stress/index.html

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Research Highlights

Movie of molecules in liquid-crystal – molecular motions in one trillionth seconds
The motion of molecules in liquid crystal
phases has been used for wide ranging
industrial applications, such as displays for
televisions and computers. Therefore, there isdemand for the development of methodology
to identify the key motions of molecules inliquid crystals for their functions.
However, no such methodology exists todirectly observe the dynamics of molecules inliquid crystals.

Observed molecular motions.

Here, Masaki Hada and colleagues at Okayama University, Kyoto University, Kyushu University, Tsukuba
University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya University, Kiel University, the University of Toronto,
and Max Planck Institute describe the development of methodology to directly capture the motions of πextended cyclooctatetraene molecules in liquid crystals.
The methodology consisted of a combination of two different measurements: (1)time-resolved electron
diffraction to observe the molecular periodicity changes with atomic spatial resolution and temporal
resolution of one trillionth seconds; and (2) time-resolved mid-infrared vibrational spectroscopy to observe
the conformational change of an isolated molecule with the relevant temporal resolution.
The chain-motions of π-extended cyclooctatetraene molecules in liquid crystals was revealed, that is,
conformational change from saddle to flat structure and subsequent rotational motion induced by stericeffect.
This methodology could be also be applied for the observation of molecular dynamics in thephotoresponsive functional soft materials containing azobenzene as well as the structural monitoring ofphotoactive sites in biological systems such as membrane proteins operating in optogenetics andphotopharmacology.

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Reference:

Authors
Masaki Hada, Shohei Saito, Sei’ichi Tanaka, Ryuma Sato, Masahiko Yoshimura, Kazuhiro Mouri,
Kyohei Matsuo, Shigehiro Yamaguchi, Mitsuo Hara, Yasuhiko Hayashi, Fynn Röhricht, Rainer Herges,
Yasuteru Shigeta, Ken Onda, R. J. Dwayne Miller
Title of original paper
Structural Monitoring of the Onset of Excited‐State Aromaticity in a Liquid Crystal Phase
Journal, volume, pages and year
Journal of the American Chemical Society 139, 15792 – 15800 (2017).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1021/jacs.7b08021
Journal website
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.7b08021
Affiliations
Department of Engineering, Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge.
Department website
http://www.ec.okayama‐u.ac.jp/%7Edm/

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Research Highlights

Unveiling “nano-scissors” required for endocytosis of synaptic vesicles
The nerve cells that make up a nervous
system connect at junctions known as
synapses. When a nerve impulse reaches
the end of the cell, membrane-boundpackages called synaptic vesicles fusewith the surface membrane and release
their contents (neurotransmitters) torelay the signal to the next cell. The fusedvesicles must be retrieved to make newvesicles, ready to transmit more signals(Figure1)HS-AFM image of clustering(arrowheads) upon GTP hydrolysis.

dynamin-amphiphysin

helices

across the synapse using the process
known as endocytosis.
Two proteins named dynamin andamphiphysin cooperate in this process.
Dynamin is a protein that acts like a
motor; it breaks down a molecule called
GTP to release energy. Previous studies
have shown that dynamin-amphiphysincomplexes join end to end to form longhelical structures, but their precise
mechanism has remained elusive.

(Figure2)Membrane fission occurs at the protein-uncoated regions flanking
dynamin-amphiphysin clusters (arrows marked with FP.1 and FP.2)

Now, Tetsuya Takeda and colleagues at Okayama University, Kanazawa University, and Nagoya
University have looked at how the structure of the helices changes during endocytosis.
Using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) that allows imaging of the molecular dynamics inhigh resolution both in space (sub nm) and time (sub mS), the team successfully imaged dynamic structuralchanges of dynamin-amphiphysin complexes during membrane fission.

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(Figure3)Clusterase model of membrane constriction and fission mediated bydynamin-amphiphysin complexes.marked with FP.1 and FP.2)

This revealed that the dynamin-amphiphysin helices rearrange to form clusters when the GTP is broken
down. Further analysis showed that the folded membrane becomes constricted at regions that are notcoated with the clusters of dynamin-amphiphysin helices. The researchers also discovered thatamphiphysin controls the size of the clusters to help make the new vesicles more uniform.
These new findings will not only help scientists to better understand the process of endocytosis, but will
also give new insights into a number of human diseases affecting the nervous system and muscles caused
by defected dynamin function.

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Reference:

Authors
Tetsuya Takeda, Toshiya Kozai, Huiran Yang, Daiki Ishikuro, Kaho Seyama, Yusuke Kumagai, Tadashi Abe,
Hiroshi Yamada, Takayuki Uchihashi, Toshio Ando, and Kohji Takei
Title of original paper
Dynamic clustering of dynamin‐amphiphysin helices regulates membrane constriction and fission
coupled with GTP hydrolysis.
Journal, volume, pages and year
eLife 7, e30246 (2018).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.7554/eLife.30246
Journal website
https://elifesciences.org/articles/30246
Department website
http://www.okayama‐u.ac.jp/user/med/biochem/index11.html

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TopicsRadio Message from International Students (World Heartful Message)
Okayama University was broadcasted an internet radio
program in which international students who have cometo study at Okayama University from countries all over
the world talked on topics such as their life asinternational students, what it is like to live in Okayama
City, and their research themes. The broadcasts were
produced in English or the native languages of thestudents.
Mr.Islam Md Monirul of the Graduate School of
Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences from
Republic of Bangladesh talked about his research andplans for the future.

Mr.Islam Md Monirul (left)

Further information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuSafNwld98&list=
PLJikPQTwoCj4ggrOUY2cs_AJZIeWdG4t8&t=1s&index=6Radio Message from International Students
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJikPQTwoCj4ggrOUY2cs_AJZIeWdG4t8

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◆Further information
Okayama University
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
Public Relations and Information Strategy
E-mail: www-adm@adm.okayama-u.ac.jp
Website: http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html
Okayama University e-Bulletin
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/user/kouhou/ebulletin/
Okayama University Medical Research Updates (OU-MRU)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/research_highlights/index_id73.html
About Okayama University (YouTube 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDL1coqPRYIOkayama University Image Movie (YouTube 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU3hOIXS5kk◆About Okayama University
Okayama University is one of the largest comprehensive universities inJapan with roots going back to the Medical Training Place sponsored by the
Lord of Okayama and established in 1870. Now with 1,300 faculty and13,000 students, the University offers courses in specialties ranging frommedicine and pharmacy to humanities and physical sciences.
Okayama University is located in the heart of Japan approximately 3 hours
west of Tokyo by Shinkansen.
Hirofumi Makino, M.D., Ph.D.
President, Okayama University“Okayama University supports the Sustainable Development Goals”
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