OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5

History of the Osaka City University Advanced Research Institute for
Natural Science and Tehnology
2008

March
April
DecemberInternational Workshop held on the eﬃcient use of sunlight energy

2009

April

Enforcement of oﬃcial regulations(start of activities as an oﬃcial bureau)

2010

January
March
OctoberNovember
March
March

1st International symposium held
2nd International symposium held
Building 2 renovated for research ﬂoors of OCARINA
Opening symposium for building 2 of OCARINA held
3rd International symposium, “Kakuno memorial,” held
Annual meeting and the OCU strategic key research project(2008-2011) debrieﬁng held

2011
2012

April
July
2013 March
April

2014

Founding Anniversary International Symposium held
The OCU strategic key research project (2008-2011) started

The OCU Advanced Research Institute for Natural Science and Technology

The OCU strategic key research project (2012-2014) started
School of Science Building C completed, partial occupation
4th International symposium held
2 new full-time staﬀ members appointed

June

Research Center of Artiﬁcial Photosynthesis opened

February
February
March
March

Partial occupation for the new School of Science Building
One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
5th International symposium held

April
April
2015 March
April
April

OCARINA通信

One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
The OCU strategic key research project (2014-2015) started
6th International Symposium held
One new full-time staﬀ member appointed
New project started

̶ Special Project̶

Research Project Reports and Future Prospects“The new projects have created more results than expected.”
Discussion with leaders of new projects about progress
report and prospects for the future
̶Research Introduction̶

Makoto Miyata Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「How motility is developed repeatedly!?」

Akihisa Terakita Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「Molecular basis for animal photoreception and its optogenetics application」

Naoteru Shigekawa Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU

Osaka City University Advanced Research Institutefor Natural Science and Technology
3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka 558-8585, Japan
http://www.ocarina.osaka-cu.ac.jp/
Midosuji sub.

「Bonding of dissimilar materials for the realization of
new energy-production and energy-saving devices」

Seiya Kobatake Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU「Light-Driven Actuators of Photochromic Organic Crystals」

Masatoshi Kozaki Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「Creation of new π-electron conjugate compounds and the investigation of their functions」

Kazunobu Sato Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU
JR Shinkansen「Molecular spin quantum technology for material innovation」

Shin-Osaka

to Shin-Kobe

JR Kobe line

Masaki Nakao Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA「Eﬀective use of thermal energy in urban areas」

Osaka

to Shin-Kobe
JR Tozai line

KyobashiTsuruhasi

OSAKA-loop line

Tennoji
Abiko

Sugimoto-cho
Kansai Airport

Sugimoto
Campus (OCARINA)

̶Activity Report̶

The 2014 OCARINA Annual International Meeting
Distinguished Professor Michael Nobel Special Event International Symposium
Academic Forum,Organization for Tenure-track for Promotion

Vol.5

OCARINA Seminars

Hineno
JR Hanwa line
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and TechOCARINA Communication 5■Special Project

OCARINA Communication 5

Research Project Reports and Future Prospects“The new projects have created more results than expected.”
Discussion with leaders of new projects about progress report andprospects for the future

1

In April 2015, new research projects launched. Three leaders of the projects talked about
their research results of the year, and future prospects. Free discussions were held, beyond
the ﬁelds of study, and possibilities for new collaborative research were reconﬁrmed.
A Wide Variety of Fields of Study ‒The Advantage of a Comprehensive
University Oﬀering Both Humanities
and Science Programs
Dr. Oshima/Today, we would like you to report thea c c o mpl i s h me nt s of yo u r r e s e a rc h a nd h ave f r e e
discussions, beyond your ﬁelds of study. We hope today’s
meeting will promote the development of our institute.
Firstly, could you tell us about the content and results ofyour research within this year?
Dr. Shigekawa/Our team is currently trying to create asolar cell by means of an unconventional method andimprove its conversion eﬃciency. In general, solar cells are
made by piling layers of various crystals, but in the case ofa semiconductor, this process is very diﬃcult. So, we aretrying to forcibly bond the parts that will not combine.
This is not a proper way of proceeding in the ﬁeld ofsemiconductors, but it is making more progress than
expected. In terms of conversion eﬃciency, the cell isbetter than a silicon solar cell. We expect that it willachieve eﬃciency 30% higher than that of silicon-based
cells.
The merit of our method is that we can optimize materials
individually and integrate them. We study individualmaterials and the entire system separately while taking
both into consideration. Thus, we are able to speed up our
research. We think that this bonding technology can beappl ie d not on ly t o s ol a r c el ls but a ls o t o va r iou senergy-related devices.

Dr. Nakao/There a re three projects in the ﬁeld of
urba n energ y disaster prevention a iming to ﬁ nd thee ﬃ c ie nt w ay s t o u s e u rb a n t he r m a l e ne rg y. I a m
e n g a g e d i n o n e o f t h e p r oj e c t s w h i c h h a v e b e e ncompleted this year. It involves the study of“thermal
grids”, which is a thermal version of smart grids. It is asystem that can freely transfer heat between multiple
buildings. It manages heat sources for air conditioning(refrigerating machines, heat pumps, etc.) in optimal
manner. We studied the structure of the thermal grids,
built the optimization system for best ﬂow patterns, anddeveloped a control method for implementation in 2005.
At present, the system is undergoing proof-of-concept
t ria ls at t he Osa ka I nter nat iona l Exhibit ion Center(Intex Osaka). We compared the consumption volume ofgas and electricity on days when the system was fully
operational in 2015 with days in 2014 when the system
was not installed, during the period from July throughSeptember. We conﬁrmed that the consumption volume
reduced by 70 % . The t her m a l g r id system w i l l b e
published in the White Paper on the Environment. Dr.
Kanjo, could you explain the second project?
Dr. Kanjo/Our project aims to decrease the amount ofsludge produced during sewage treatment, by producing
methane gas through the use of methanogen, and to use
the carbon-neutral methane gas as an energy resource.
We are trying to make eﬀective use of methane gas forthe creation of a low-carbon society.
It is necessary to heat sludge to 40ºC̃50ºC in order topro duc e met h a ne g a s . P rev iou s ly, 3 0 %̃4 0 % of t heprecious met ha ne gas produced was used as a heatsource.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Vice President, OCU/Director, OCARINA

Hiroshi Oshima

Lef t the doctorate course, Depar tment of Applied
Chemistry and Bioengineering, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU in Sep. 1977. After working as theassistant, assistant professor and professor of the
Department of Applied Chemistry and Bioengineering,
Faculty of Engineering, he became the professor of
the Department of Applied Chemistry andBioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU
in April 2002. In April 2014, he became the Vice President, and Director of the Oﬃce for
School Reform, Collaborative Research Promotion Section, Gender Equality Promotion
Section, and OCARINA. Doctor of engineering

It is waste of energ y. Therefore, we ta lked with Dr.
Nakao and decided to heat sludge using a solar water
heater. Also, it became possible to collect and use theheat of the sludge after processing.
Furthermore, the temperature of sewage in Osaka does
not decrease below 15ºC, even in winter. It is higher
than the air temperature. We are examining a systemfor obt a i n i ng t he t her ma l energ y usi ng a heatexchanger and a heat pump, and using it to heat thes l u d g e p r o c e s s i n g t a n k . We a r e c a r r y i n g o u texperiments at the sewage plant in Osaka City. We have
fou nd t hat t he consu mpt ion of met ha ne gas ca n be
reduced by more than 70%, and the remaining gas canbe used eﬃciently.
Dr. Oshima/70% is a remarkable ﬁgure.
Dr. Miyata/ I am engaged in advanced-bio project 1.
Our biggest accomplishment this year was our proposalthat the gliding motility of the pathogenic
m ic ro org a n i s m , myc o pl a s m a , m ig ht b e c au s e d byaccidental contact between an adhesive protein, which
ex ist s i n most pat hogen ic m icro orga n isms , a nd
ATP-synthetase, which exists in all organisms and isnecessary for maintaining their membrane potential.
Biologists have long been discussing the movement oforganisms as something complicated. However, we haverecently found that it may result from a very simple
encounter.
Dr. Kamiya/In the ﬁeld of artiﬁcial photosynthesis, wehave stepped into the phase of creating a n arti ﬁcia lphoto sy nt hesis dev ice t hat works eﬃcient ly byintegrating researchers’individual studies. Dr. Amao is
acting as the leader of the project. We are now required
to create a working system while comparing its costswith that of power generation using fossil fuels.
Recently, the term“hydrogen society”has often beenused. However, hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide
ﬁxation are totally diﬀerent in their levels of diﬃculty.
At present , we are studying a device that generates
hydrogen from water a nd a device t hat synthesizes
formic acid, which is a carrier of hydrogen.

Fu r ther d evelop ment th rough the
integration of multiple ﬁelds of study
Dr. Oshima/ I understand you are all enjoying yourstudies.

Vice Director, OCARINA

Yoshinori Kanjo

Graduated from the Department of Sanitary Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University in March 1983.
Completed the master’s course at the Department of
Sanitary Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering,
Kyoto University in March 1985, and joined the Faculty ofEngineering, OCU in April 1985. Became the professor of
the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU in 2006 and took up his present post in
2010. Since 2013, he has been acting as the leader of theresearch project“Technological development and experiments for reducing CO2 emission”,
consigned by the Ministry of the Environment. He specializes in water treatment engineering. He
studies the evaluation and disposal of nutrient salts and trace contaminants, and the recovery ofvaluable materials. Doctor of engineeringThough some of your studies involve physics and others
are related to engineering, engineering ca nnot exist
without physics, so you all appear to be interested ineach other’s ﬁeld as well.
Dr. Miyata/I have a question for a professor studying
solar panels. Is it possible to use radioactive materials
instead of solar light for power generation using panels.
Can’t we get energy from a radioisotope little by little
and use it, not taking a large amount of energy throughboiling high pressure water?
Dr. Shigekawa/The energy density of a radioactivem at er i a l is h ig her i n c ompa r is on t h a n s ol a r l ig ht ;therefore, a larger panel would be required.
One of the disadvantages of solar power generation is
although its power generation eﬃciency is relatively
h igh , it s energ y densit y is low. We a i m to create a
portable, self-distributed system; however we are facing
the problem of conversion eﬃciency. We must produce
power that can manage a certain system in a limited
space. In the case of radioisotopes, the energy density
must be kept lower from a safety perspective, in ordert o u s e t he m i n t he s a me m a n ner a s s ol a r pa ne l s .
Therefore, it would be more diﬃcult.
We also have the problem of disposal. In the study ofrecyclable energy, we must consider how to dispose of
the device.
D r. O s h i m a / D r. K a nj o , d o e s y o u r s t u d y o f t h ecollimation technique of solar light have anything to dowith the fact that the energy density in solar power
generation is low?
Dr. Kanjo/Yes. The biggest problem in the use of solar
energy is, naturally, that it cannot be used unless it’ssunny. Another problem is the accumulation of dust on
the panels’surface. It needs ﬁne weather, but it also
needs some rain to prevent the accumulation of dust.
The most diﬃcult aspect of harnessing solar energy isweather conditions, which cannot be controlled.
D r. S h i g e k a w a / I h a v e h e a r d t h a t t h e u s e o fwater-repel lent t reat ment on pa nel su r faces isadvancing. The coating should be applied once in a few
years, of course, but it pays regardless of the cost.
Solar power generation should be considered not only interms of a device, but also as a system including thedevice.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

2

OCARINA Communication 5■Special Project

OCARINA Communication 5

Research Project Reports and Future Prospects“The new projects have created more results than expected.”
Discussion with leaders of new projects about progress report andprospects for the future

1

In April 2015, new research projects launched. Three leaders of the projects talked about
their research results of the year, and future prospects. Free discussions were held, beyond
the ﬁelds of study, and possibilities for new collaborative research were reconﬁrmed.
A Wide Variety of Fields of Study ‒The Advantage of a Comprehensive
University Oﬀering Both Humanities
and Science Programs
Dr. Oshima/Today, we would like you to report thea c c o mpl i s h me nt s of yo u r r e s e a rc h a nd h ave f r e e
discussions, beyond your ﬁelds of study. We hope today’s
meeting will promote the development of our institute.
Firstly, could you tell us about the content and results ofyour research within this year?
Dr. Shigekawa/Our team is currently trying to create asolar cell by means of an unconventional method andimprove its conversion eﬃciency. In general, solar cells are
made by piling layers of various crystals, but in the case ofa semiconductor, this process is very diﬃcult. So, we aretrying to forcibly bond the parts that will not combine.
This is not a proper way of proceeding in the ﬁeld ofsemiconductors, but it is making more progress than
expected. In terms of conversion eﬃciency, the cell isbetter than a silicon solar cell. We expect that it willachieve eﬃciency 30% higher than that of silicon-based
cells.
The merit of our method is that we can optimize materials
individually and integrate them. We study individualmaterials and the entire system separately while taking
both into consideration. Thus, we are able to speed up our
research. We think that this bonding technology can beappl ie d not on ly t o s ol a r c el ls but a ls o t o va r iou senergy-related devices.

Dr. Nakao/There a re three projects in the ﬁeld of
urba n energ y disaster prevention a iming to ﬁ nd thee ﬃ c ie nt w ay s t o u s e u rb a n t he r m a l e ne rg y. I a m
e n g a g e d i n o n e o f t h e p r oj e c t s w h i c h h a v e b e e ncompleted this year. It involves the study of“thermal
grids”, which is a thermal version of smart grids. It is asystem that can freely transfer heat between multiple
buildings. It manages heat sources for air conditioning(refrigerating machines, heat pumps, etc.) in optimal
manner. We studied the structure of the thermal grids,
built the optimization system for best ﬂow patterns, anddeveloped a control method for implementation in 2005.
At present, the system is undergoing proof-of-concept
t ria ls at t he Osa ka I nter nat iona l Exhibit ion Center(Intex Osaka). We compared the consumption volume ofgas and electricity on days when the system was fully
operational in 2015 with days in 2014 when the system
was not installed, during the period from July throughSeptember. We conﬁrmed that the consumption volume
reduced by 70 % . The t her m a l g r id system w i l l b e
published in the White Paper on the Environment. Dr.
Kanjo, could you explain the second project?
Dr. Kanjo/Our project aims to decrease the amount ofsludge produced during sewage treatment, by producing
methane gas through the use of methanogen, and to use
the carbon-neutral methane gas as an energy resource.
We are trying to make eﬀective use of methane gas forthe creation of a low-carbon society.
It is necessary to heat sludge to 40ºC̃50ºC in order topro duc e met h a ne g a s . P rev iou s ly, 3 0 %̃4 0 % of t heprecious met ha ne gas produced was used as a heatsource.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Vice President, OCU/Director, OCARINA

Hiroshi Oshima

Lef t the doctorate course, Depar tment of Applied
Chemistry and Bioengineering, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU in Sep. 1977. After working as theassistant, assistant professor and professor of the
Department of Applied Chemistry and Bioengineering,
Faculty of Engineering, he became the professor of
the Department of Applied Chemistry andBioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU
in April 2002. In April 2014, he became the Vice President, and Director of the Oﬃce for
School Reform, Collaborative Research Promotion Section, Gender Equality Promotion
Section, and OCARINA. Doctor of engineering

It is waste of energ y. Therefore, we ta lked with Dr.
Nakao and decided to heat sludge using a solar water
heater. Also, it became possible to collect and use theheat of the sludge after processing.
Furthermore, the temperature of sewage in Osaka does
not decrease below 15ºC, even in winter. It is higher
than the air temperature. We are examining a systemfor obt a i n i ng t he t her ma l energ y usi ng a heatexchanger and a heat pump, and using it to heat thes l u d g e p r o c e s s i n g t a n k . We a r e c a r r y i n g o u texperiments at the sewage plant in Osaka City. We have
fou nd t hat t he consu mpt ion of met ha ne gas ca n be
reduced by more than 70%, and the remaining gas canbe used eﬃciently.
Dr. Oshima/70% is a remarkable ﬁgure.
Dr. Miyata/ I am engaged in advanced-bio project 1.
Our biggest accomplishment this year was our proposalthat the gliding motility of the pathogenic
m ic ro org a n i s m , myc o pl a s m a , m ig ht b e c au s e d byaccidental contact between an adhesive protein, which
ex ist s i n most pat hogen ic m icro orga n isms , a nd
ATP-synthetase, which exists in all organisms and isnecessary for maintaining their membrane potential.
Biologists have long been discussing the movement oforganisms as something complicated. However, we haverecently found that it may result from a very simple
encounter.
Dr. Kamiya/In the ﬁeld of artiﬁcial photosynthesis, wehave stepped into the phase of creating a n arti ﬁcia lphoto sy nt hesis dev ice t hat works eﬃcient ly byintegrating researchers’individual studies. Dr. Amao is
acting as the leader of the project. We are now required
to create a working system while comparing its costswith that of power generation using fossil fuels.
Recently, the term“hydrogen society”has often beenused. However, hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide
ﬁxation are totally diﬀerent in their levels of diﬃculty.
At present , we are studying a device that generates
hydrogen from water a nd a device t hat synthesizes
formic acid, which is a carrier of hydrogen.

Fu r ther d evelop ment th rough the
integration of multiple ﬁelds of study
Dr. Oshima/ I understand you are all enjoying yourstudies.

Vice Director, OCARINA

Yoshinori Kanjo

Graduated from the Department of Sanitary Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University in March 1983.
Completed the master’s course at the Department of
Sanitary Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering,
Kyoto University in March 1985, and joined the Faculty ofEngineering, OCU in April 1985. Became the professor of
the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU in 2006 and took up his present post in
2010. Since 2013, he has been acting as the leader of theresearch project“Technological development and experiments for reducing CO2 emission”,
consigned by the Ministry of the Environment. He specializes in water treatment engineering. He
studies the evaluation and disposal of nutrient salts and trace contaminants, and the recovery ofvaluable materials. Doctor of engineeringThough some of your studies involve physics and others
are related to engineering, engineering ca nnot exist
without physics, so you all appear to be interested ineach other’s ﬁeld as well.
Dr. Miyata/I have a question for a professor studying
solar panels. Is it possible to use radioactive materials
instead of solar light for power generation using panels.
Can’t we get energy from a radioisotope little by little
and use it, not taking a large amount of energy throughboiling high pressure water?
Dr. Shigekawa/The energy density of a radioactivem at er i a l is h ig her i n c ompa r is on t h a n s ol a r l ig ht ;therefore, a larger panel would be required.
One of the disadvantages of solar power generation is
although its power generation eﬃciency is relatively
h igh , it s energ y densit y is low. We a i m to create a
portable, self-distributed system; however we are facing
the problem of conversion eﬃciency. We must produce
power that can manage a certain system in a limited
space. In the case of radioisotopes, the energy density
must be kept lower from a safety perspective, in ordert o u s e t he m i n t he s a me m a n ner a s s ol a r pa ne l s .
Therefore, it would be more diﬃcult.
We also have the problem of disposal. In the study ofrecyclable energy, we must consider how to dispose of
the device.
D r. O s h i m a / D r. K a nj o , d o e s y o u r s t u d y o f t h ecollimation technique of solar light have anything to dowith the fact that the energy density in solar power
generation is low?
Dr. Kanjo/Yes. The biggest problem in the use of solar
energy is, naturally, that it cannot be used unless it’ssunny. Another problem is the accumulation of dust on
the panels’surface. It needs ﬁne weather, but it also
needs some rain to prevent the accumulation of dust.
The most diﬃcult aspect of harnessing solar energy isweather conditions, which cannot be controlled.
D r. S h i g e k a w a / I h a v e h e a r d t h a t t h e u s e o fwater-repel lent t reat ment on pa nel su r faces isadvancing. The coating should be applied once in a few
years, of course, but it pays regardless of the cost.
Solar power generation should be considered not only interms of a device, but also as a system including thedevice.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

2

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Special ProjectVice Director, OCARINA

Nobuo Kamiya

Graduated from the School of Science and completed
t h e d o c t o ra l c o u r s e a t t h e G ra d u a t e S c h o o l o f
S cie n c e, N a goya U nive r sit y. D o cto r of s cie n c e.
Worked as the guest researcher at the High Energy
Physics Research Institute, Photon Factory (PF), theresearcher and research sub head at RIKEN and the
director of the R&D oﬃce of RIKEN Harima Center(Spring-8). Became the professor of the Graduate
School of Science, OCU in 2005 and took up his present post in 2010. Awarded the Asahi
Prize in 2012.

Prof. Nakao/As the use of hybrid energy has been
put into practical use, the conversion eﬃciency of solar
cells increases when they are cooled down. However,hybr id e ne rg y h a s n ot b e c o me p o pu l a r. I f s u c h atechnology were reﬁned, it would be very useful. Musthydrogen pa nels , which generate f uels by mea ns of
artiﬁcial photosynthesis, also be cooled down?

3

D r. Ka m iya / I n c o nt r a st t o s ol a r c e l l s , a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis involves chemical reactions; therefore, itseﬃciency is increased by circulating the solution. We
need to use a pump to circulate the solution in a device
at the initial stage; however, it requires additional costs.
We need some device to reduce t he energ y used tocirculate the solution as much as possible. Furthermore,
it is impossible to attain an energy conversion eﬃciencyof 100%, and to prevent an increase in the temperatureof the solution. We will need your advice for how to deal
with the heat when our research reaches that stage.
Dr. Nakao/The temperature is high enough at 45ºC
for heating and 65ºC for hot-water supply. I am very
interested in the temperature level after circulation of
the solution. Perhaps, the solution should be cooled down
so that exhaust heat can be utilized for something. If it
leads to the use of heat, for example, if there is a large
merit in the use of heat even if pumping is necessary, it
will pay. R ight? I think we can provide some help inestablishing such a system.
Dr. Kamiya/ We would appreciate it. I am sure that
this aspect will become a big issue. At present, we areat the stage of making the device; however, it is notenough at all. Our aim is to create a system including
the device and popularize it.
We will continue our research, taking the use of exhaust
heat and total cost into consideration.
Dr. Shigekawa/Another disadvantage of solar power
generation is that the device ca nnot accumulate theg e ner at e d e nerg y. We ne e d bat t er ie s t o st ore t heenergy. When viewed in this way, organisms are reallygreat. They are systems that generate and accumulateenergy. It seems to me that each molecule has a speciﬁcfunction, yet it naturally acquires various functions at
an early stage of growth.
Of course, it must have taken billions of years to evolveto such a level. However, I wonder how we are able tounderstand and ﬁll up the gap between organisms andSpecially Appointed Professor, OCARINA

Masaki Nakao

Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU

Naoteru Shigekawa

Graduated from the Department of Mechanical andControl Engineering, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology in March
19 7 3 . D o c t o r o f e n g i n e e r i n g . W o r ke d f o r N T T
Musashino Research Institute for ElectricalC o m m u n i c a t i o n , N T T, N T T Fa c ili t i e s , a n d S o g o
Setsubi Consulting, Co. Ltd. Became the professor of
the Graduate School of Science, OCU in April 2004
and took up his present post in 2015.

Graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of
Science, Universit y of Tokyo in March 1984, andcompleted the master’s course at the Department of
Physics, Graduate School of Science in March 1986.
Studied compound-semiconductor heterojunction
devices at NT T Atsugi Electrical Communications
L a b o ra t o r i e s ( p re s e n t N T T D ev i c e Te c h n o l o g yLaboratories) from April 1986 until Sep. 2011. Took up
his present post in Oct. 2011. Doctor of science.

artiﬁcial inorganics.

Dr. Miyata/I agree. There are many ways to increase
the eﬃciency of proteins. With regards to eﬃciency,
people’s recognition of life phenomena including motility
has changed during the last 20 years. They used to behighly recognized as excellent systems, but they are
now regarded as something really ineﬃcient. Organisms
are still in the midst of evolution.

Dr. Oshima/That’s right , orga nisms a re fa r moreadvanced systems. What should we aim at in order tomake inorganics attain the level of organisms?
Dr. Kamiya/I think in the following way. Basically, onet y p e o f p r o t e i n h a s o n l y o n e f u n c t i o n . H ow e v e r,
numerous types of proteins are combined in cells. When
we think about organisms, the most important issue is
how t he networks of di ﬀerent ty pes of proteins a rec o nt r o l l e d . I t h i n k t h a t o r g a n i s m s a p p e a r t o b eadvanced systems because they are able to use diﬀerent
functions by switching the networks of proteins.
In plant leaves, solar energy is accumulated as chemicalcompounds at one time, and the chemical compoundsa r e b u r nt fo r p l a nt ’s a c t iv it i e s a t a n ot h e r. B ot hprocesses are activated by molecules of ATPase.
If we consider inorganics such as silicon and titaniumoxide as materials for artiﬁcial photosynthesis, I thinktheir biggest diﬀerence from living organisms is theirs p e c i ﬁ c i t y. T i t a n i u m o x i d e u s e d f o r a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis consists of the crystal structure of theunits of TiO 2 . Reactions occurring on one part of the
cr yst a l sur face a re somet imes di ﬀerent f rom t hoseoccurring in another part. It means that the speciﬁcityof a reaction occurring on the crystal surface is notver y h igh . How to i mprove t he speci ﬁcit y is a nimportant factor in increasing the functional eﬃciency
in inorganics.
I would like to add that living systems are very costly
systems. As a whole, they are really wasteful systems.
The eﬃciency of each type of protein that I study isvery high; however, more than 100 types of proteins are
involved in photosynthesis. Therefore, many losses arecaused, and the thermal energy produced is used for
diﬀerent cells to live. Losses in photosynthesis are not
wa stef u l for orga n isms . We need to sepa rate t hem
clearly.
Dr. Oshima/Do you mean to create waste in a usefulmanner?
D r. K a m i y a / B o t h p h o t o s y nt h e s i s a n d a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis produce heat during reactions. The heatis not wasteful. If not all, even a part of it should be
used a s energ y. I t h i n k we w i l l su rely requ i re t heconcept of cogenerat ion i n t he ﬁeld of a r t i ﬁcia lphotosynthesis as well in future.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Future tasks and dreams, based on
accomplishments
D r. Oshima / I see. A l l resea rch projects a re ver y
impressive. Lastly, could you tell us about your futureplans?
Dr. Shigekawa /As for bonding materia ls , we a regetting intriguing results through diﬀerent combinationso f v a r i o u s m a t e r i a l s . I n t h e ﬁ e l d o f s o l a r p ow e r
generat ion , a s I ment ioned ea rl ier, development ofbatteries is our future task.
Dr. Miyata / I n my ﬁeld of study, it is importa nt toestablish high resolution theories and understanding
regarding the newly discovered motility mechanisms.
Another task is the reconstruction of biological system.
If we are unable to reconstruct the system, it meanst h at we do not u nder st a nd it f u l ly. S ome mot i l it ysystems that have long been studied, such as movementof muscles driven by motor proteins , ca n bereconstructed but others cannot. That remains a task to
be tackled by biologists.
There is one thing that I think is unfortunate for us. In
general, people tend to think that higher eucaryotes
w it h more c ompl ic at e d sy st em s h ave c ompl ic at e dmechanisms. However, the reality is to the contrary:t hei r f u nct ion at e ach mole cu l a r level is sp e ci ﬁedcompletely, so the mechanisms like muscles that was
fou nd a long t i me ago, for exa mple , is ea sier to bereconstructed.
In that sense, the reconstruction of newly found motility
may be more diﬃcult.

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Makoto Miyata

Completed a doctorate in science at Department of
Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka Univ. in Mar 1988.
R e s e a rc h A s s o c i a te a t D e p a r t m e nt of B i o l o g y,
Faculty of Science, Osaka City Univ, Apr 1988-Spt
1995. Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Mar
2 0 0 0 - M a r 2 0 01. P R E S TO J S T r e s e a r c h e r O c t
2003-Apr 2007. Leader of Grand-in-Aid for ScientiﬁcResearch on Innovative Areas "Harmonizedsupramolecular motility machinery and its diversity", from The Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). July 2012-Mar 2017
Current position since October 2006.

a re pl a n n i ng t o i n st a l l a l o o p pipi ng sy st e m t h atconnects multiple buildings a nd a router in a vaca nt
space , for exa mple i n u nderg rou nd pa rk i ng , wh ich
switches the ﬂow of heat between the buildings. Thus,
we aim to use heat eﬃciently and minimize the use of
the primary energy.
The system should be useful in areas that contain manybuildings with a central heating system. The system canbe applied to existing buildings; therefore, it has a hugesocial impact.
We intend to go on to the study of the next version ofthermal grids. When water at diﬀerent temperatures
ﬂows in a pipe, which we call“water packet transfer”, it
causes a loss in the thermal capacity of the piping and achange in the temperature at the water head. We areenvisioning inner insulation piping to solve this problem.
If it is realized, it will be a great innovation.
For example, when we wash our face in the morning, itof ten t a kes t i me for hot water to come out . I f t heinsulation property is high and thermal capacity low
inside the piping, it should not take much time until hot
water comes out. This innovation will greatly contributeto society.
I would like to seek advice from Dr. Shigekawa as to themethod of bonding the new material to the inside ofpiping.
There is a lso a project t hat has been completed . I nurban areas, there are networks of sewage pipes thatrun in all directions. In a NEDO project, we developed
equipment for boiling water and heating air using theheat of sewage in buildings close to manholes. We would
like to spread t he results of t his resea rch in actua lsettings.
Dr. Oshima/All research projects are very impressive,
and I would like to hear about them in more detail if I
have a cha nce. I t hink these discussions on va rious
topics have been rewarding, and I believe we were able
to see the overall outlook of our organization.

Dr. Oshima/With regard to“thermal grids”, how far
are you planning to extend the range of experiments?
The technology that can create energy savings of 70%
is remarkable.
Dr. Nakao／The system is designed for buildings withlarge heat sources such as refrigerators and boilers. We
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

4

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Special ProjectVice Director, OCARINA

Nobuo Kamiya

Graduated from the School of Science and completed
t h e d o c t o ra l c o u r s e a t t h e G ra d u a t e S c h o o l o f
S cie n c e, N a goya U nive r sit y. D o cto r of s cie n c e.
Worked as the guest researcher at the High Energy
Physics Research Institute, Photon Factory (PF), theresearcher and research sub head at RIKEN and the
director of the R&D oﬃce of RIKEN Harima Center(Spring-8). Became the professor of the Graduate
School of Science, OCU in 2005 and took up his present post in 2010. Awarded the Asahi
Prize in 2012.

Prof. Nakao/As the use of hybrid energy has been
put into practical use, the conversion eﬃciency of solar
cells increases when they are cooled down. However,hybr id e ne rg y h a s n ot b e c o me p o pu l a r. I f s u c h atechnology were reﬁned, it would be very useful. Musthydrogen pa nels , which generate f uels by mea ns of
artiﬁcial photosynthesis, also be cooled down?

3

D r. Ka m iya / I n c o nt r a st t o s ol a r c e l l s , a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis involves chemical reactions; therefore, itseﬃciency is increased by circulating the solution. We
need to use a pump to circulate the solution in a device
at the initial stage; however, it requires additional costs.
We need some device to reduce t he energ y used tocirculate the solution as much as possible. Furthermore,
it is impossible to attain an energy conversion eﬃciencyof 100%, and to prevent an increase in the temperatureof the solution. We will need your advice for how to deal
with the heat when our research reaches that stage.
Dr. Nakao/The temperature is high enough at 45ºC
for heating and 65ºC for hot-water supply. I am very
interested in the temperature level after circulation of
the solution. Perhaps, the solution should be cooled down
so that exhaust heat can be utilized for something. If it
leads to the use of heat, for example, if there is a large
merit in the use of heat even if pumping is necessary, it
will pay. R ight? I think we can provide some help inestablishing such a system.
Dr. Kamiya/ We would appreciate it. I am sure that
this aspect will become a big issue. At present, we areat the stage of making the device; however, it is notenough at all. Our aim is to create a system including
the device and popularize it.
We will continue our research, taking the use of exhaust
heat and total cost into consideration.
Dr. Shigekawa/Another disadvantage of solar power
generation is that the device ca nnot accumulate theg e ner at e d e nerg y. We ne e d bat t er ie s t o st ore t heenergy. When viewed in this way, organisms are reallygreat. They are systems that generate and accumulateenergy. It seems to me that each molecule has a speciﬁcfunction, yet it naturally acquires various functions at
an early stage of growth.
Of course, it must have taken billions of years to evolveto such a level. However, I wonder how we are able tounderstand and ﬁll up the gap between organisms andSpecially Appointed Professor, OCARINA

Masaki Nakao

Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU

Naoteru Shigekawa

Graduated from the Department of Mechanical andControl Engineering, Graduate School of Science andEngineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology in March
19 7 3 . D o c t o r o f e n g i n e e r i n g . W o r ke d f o r N T T
Musashino Research Institute for ElectricalC o m m u n i c a t i o n , N T T, N T T Fa c ili t i e s , a n d S o g o
Setsubi Consulting, Co. Ltd. Became the professor of
the Graduate School of Science, OCU in April 2004
and took up his present post in 2015.

Graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of
Science, Universit y of Tokyo in March 1984, andcompleted the master’s course at the Department of
Physics, Graduate School of Science in March 1986.
Studied compound-semiconductor heterojunction
devices at NT T Atsugi Electrical Communications
L a b o ra t o r i e s ( p re s e n t N T T D ev i c e Te c h n o l o g yLaboratories) from April 1986 until Sep. 2011. Took up
his present post in Oct. 2011. Doctor of science.

artiﬁcial inorganics.

Dr. Miyata/I agree. There are many ways to increase
the eﬃciency of proteins. With regards to eﬃciency,
people’s recognition of life phenomena including motility
has changed during the last 20 years. They used to behighly recognized as excellent systems, but they are
now regarded as something really ineﬃcient. Organisms
are still in the midst of evolution.

Dr. Oshima/That’s right , orga nisms a re fa r moreadvanced systems. What should we aim at in order tomake inorganics attain the level of organisms?
Dr. Kamiya/I think in the following way. Basically, onet y p e o f p r o t e i n h a s o n l y o n e f u n c t i o n . H ow e v e r,
numerous types of proteins are combined in cells. When
we think about organisms, the most important issue is
how t he networks of di ﬀerent ty pes of proteins a rec o nt r o l l e d . I t h i n k t h a t o r g a n i s m s a p p e a r t o b eadvanced systems because they are able to use diﬀerent
functions by switching the networks of proteins.
In plant leaves, solar energy is accumulated as chemicalcompounds at one time, and the chemical compoundsa r e b u r nt fo r p l a nt ’s a c t iv it i e s a t a n ot h e r. B ot hprocesses are activated by molecules of ATPase.
If we consider inorganics such as silicon and titaniumoxide as materials for artiﬁcial photosynthesis, I thinktheir biggest diﬀerence from living organisms is theirs p e c i ﬁ c i t y. T i t a n i u m o x i d e u s e d f o r a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis consists of the crystal structure of theunits of TiO 2 . Reactions occurring on one part of the
cr yst a l sur face a re somet imes di ﬀerent f rom t hoseoccurring in another part. It means that the speciﬁcityof a reaction occurring on the crystal surface is notver y h igh . How to i mprove t he speci ﬁcit y is a nimportant factor in increasing the functional eﬃciency
in inorganics.
I would like to add that living systems are very costly
systems. As a whole, they are really wasteful systems.
The eﬃciency of each type of protein that I study isvery high; however, more than 100 types of proteins are
involved in photosynthesis. Therefore, many losses arecaused, and the thermal energy produced is used for
diﬀerent cells to live. Losses in photosynthesis are not
wa stef u l for orga n isms . We need to sepa rate t hem
clearly.
Dr. Oshima/Do you mean to create waste in a usefulmanner?
D r. K a m i y a / B o t h p h o t o s y nt h e s i s a n d a r t i ﬁ c i a lphotosynthesis produce heat during reactions. The heatis not wasteful. If not all, even a part of it should be
used a s energ y. I t h i n k we w i l l su rely requ i re t heconcept of cogenerat ion i n t he ﬁeld of a r t i ﬁcia lphotosynthesis as well in future.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Future tasks and dreams, based on
accomplishments
D r. Oshima / I see. A l l resea rch projects a re ver y
impressive. Lastly, could you tell us about your futureplans?
Dr. Shigekawa /As for bonding materia ls , we a regetting intriguing results through diﬀerent combinationso f v a r i o u s m a t e r i a l s . I n t h e ﬁ e l d o f s o l a r p ow e r
generat ion , a s I ment ioned ea rl ier, development ofbatteries is our future task.
Dr. Miyata / I n my ﬁeld of study, it is importa nt toestablish high resolution theories and understanding
regarding the newly discovered motility mechanisms.
Another task is the reconstruction of biological system.
If we are unable to reconstruct the system, it meanst h at we do not u nder st a nd it f u l ly. S ome mot i l it ysystems that have long been studied, such as movementof muscles driven by motor proteins , ca n bereconstructed but others cannot. That remains a task to
be tackled by biologists.
There is one thing that I think is unfortunate for us. In
general, people tend to think that higher eucaryotes
w it h more c ompl ic at e d sy st em s h ave c ompl ic at e dmechanisms. However, the reality is to the contrary:t hei r f u nct ion at e ach mole cu l a r level is sp e ci ﬁedcompletely, so the mechanisms like muscles that was
fou nd a long t i me ago, for exa mple , is ea sier to bereconstructed.
In that sense, the reconstruction of newly found motility
may be more diﬃcult.

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Makoto Miyata

Completed a doctorate in science at Department of
Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka Univ. in Mar 1988.
R e s e a rc h A s s o c i a te a t D e p a r t m e nt of B i o l o g y,
Faculty of Science, Osaka City Univ, Apr 1988-Spt
1995. Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Mar
2 0 0 0 - M a r 2 0 01. P R E S TO J S T r e s e a r c h e r O c t
2003-Apr 2007. Leader of Grand-in-Aid for ScientiﬁcResearch on Innovative Areas "Harmonizedsupramolecular motility machinery and its diversity", from The Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). July 2012-Mar 2017
Current position since October 2006.

a re pl a n n i ng t o i n st a l l a l o o p pipi ng sy st e m t h atconnects multiple buildings a nd a router in a vaca nt
space , for exa mple i n u nderg rou nd pa rk i ng , wh ich
switches the ﬂow of heat between the buildings. Thus,
we aim to use heat eﬃciently and minimize the use of
the primary energy.
The system should be useful in areas that contain manybuildings with a central heating system. The system canbe applied to existing buildings; therefore, it has a hugesocial impact.
We intend to go on to the study of the next version ofthermal grids. When water at diﬀerent temperatures
ﬂows in a pipe, which we call“water packet transfer”, it
causes a loss in the thermal capacity of the piping and achange in the temperature at the water head. We areenvisioning inner insulation piping to solve this problem.
If it is realized, it will be a great innovation.
For example, when we wash our face in the morning, itof ten t a kes t i me for hot water to come out . I f t heinsulation property is high and thermal capacity low
inside the piping, it should not take much time until hot
water comes out. This innovation will greatly contributeto society.
I would like to seek advice from Dr. Shigekawa as to themethod of bonding the new material to the inside ofpiping.
There is a lso a project t hat has been completed . I nurban areas, there are networks of sewage pipes thatrun in all directions. In a NEDO project, we developed
equipment for boiling water and heating air using theheat of sewage in buildings close to manholes. We would
like to spread t he results of t his resea rch in actua lsettings.
Dr. Oshima/All research projects are very impressive,
and I would like to hear about them in more detail if I
have a cha nce. I t hink these discussions on va rious
topics have been rewarding, and I believe we were able
to see the overall outlook of our organization.

Dr. Oshima/With regard to“thermal grids”, how far
are you planning to extend the range of experiments?
The technology that can create energy savings of 70%
is remarkable.
Dr. Nakao／The system is designed for buildings withlarge heat sources such as refrigerators and boilers. We
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

4

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Completed a doctorate in science at Departmentof Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka Univ. in
Mar 1988. Research Associate at Department of
Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka City Univ, Apr
19 8 8 - Spt 19 95. Visiting S cholar at Har vard
University, Mar 2000-Mar 2001. PRESTO JST
re s e a rc h e r O c t 2 0 0 3 - A p r 2 0 07. Le a d e r o f
Grand-in-Aid for Scientiﬁc Research on
Innovative Areas "Harmonized supramolecularmotility machinery and its diversity", from The
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology (MEXT). July 2012-Mar 2017
Current position since October 2006.

Completed a doctorate course at the Graduate
S c h o o l o f S c i e n c e , O C U i n M a r c h 19 8 9 .
Received a professorship at OCU in April 2006
af ter conducting research as a fellow of theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science, andholding positions as a research scientist at theS c i e n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y A g e n c y ( R I K E N ),as sistant (education) at Oita Universit y andassistant (science) and assistant professor at
Kyoto University. Became a researcher at theR e s e a rc h C e nte r fo r S c i e n c e S y s te m s , t h eJapan Society for the Promotion of Science inApril 2013 (concurrent post).

Makoto Miyata
How motility is developed
repeatedly!?

5

Many organisms can move. At ﬁrst glance, the motility
mechanism seems diverse. However, we understand that
almost all organisms including human being have thecom mon mecha n ism of mot i l it y when we t race t hemechanism. Namely, conventional motor proteins, Myosin,
K i nesi n , D y nei n gl ide on ra i l protei n ba sed on t hehydrolysis energy of ATP. Numerous prominent researches
have been conducted about the process of force generation
and we got considerable understanding of the mechanism.
However, based on the recent progress of genomic analysis
and visualizing technology, it is becoming clear that many
intrinsically diﬀerent mechanisms of motility exist. I am incharge of the project, "Harmonized supramolecular motility
machinery and its diversity", a Grant-in -Aid for ScientiﬁcResearch on innovative Areas from Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. In our
project, we are trying to clarify the mechanism of motility
to atomic level. We think that the understanding of various
mot i l it y mech a n isms lead to t he u nder st a nd i ng oforganisms themselves. Furthermore, it leads to methods tocontrol organisms critical for medicine and industry.
In Osaka City University, we oﬀer the technologicaldevelopment and analysis of "Quick freeze replica electron
microscopy method (which is useful but to be lost as it
stands)" and the analysis of mass spectrometry, as thegeneric support for the proposed research area, to theapproximately 50 research area- groups throughout Japan.
Besides , we study the motility mecha nisms of class
Mollicutes which is a group of pathogenic bacteria, as therole of research team at Osaka City University.
The class Mollicutes is a class of bacteria, Low- GC
branch of Gram-positive bacteria which evolved in uniqueways through parasitic life cycle in higher animals andplants. They threw away their cell wall and tail (in otherwords, peptidoglycan and ﬂagellum) which are to be thetargets of host immune system, and then obtained a softand light body. Furthermore, they obtained a method of
camouﬂage and three separate unique motility mechanisms
in order to escape from immune system thoroughly. We
have studied these three motility mechanisms of class
Mollicutes since 1997 and the research is about to reach its

climax before long. We published the proposal that theaccidental contact of adhesin, common in most pathogenic
microorga nisms a nd ATP synthetase, existing in a llorganisms and essential for maintenance of the membranepotential might have developed the gliding mechanism ofMycoplasma mobile, a freshwater-ﬁsh pathogen.
(The below ﬁgure is the magniﬁed image of the gliding
machinery of Mycoplasma mobile. Upper blue structure
like a string of beads originated from ATP synthetase. The
cell inside is colored light pink. Lower surface is the solid
surface like glass. The force is transmitted from (i) to (iii)in this order.
【References】Miyata M and Hamaguchi T (2016), Prospects forthe gliding mechanism of Mycoplasma mobile. Current Opinion
i n M icrobiolog y. 2 9 , 15 - 21 . PM I D : 2 6 5 0 018 9 .
doi:10.1016/j.mib.2015.08.010.
Nakane D, Kenri T, Matsuo L, and Miyata M (2015), Systematic
structura l a na lyses of attachment orga nelle in Myco pl a sm apneumoniae. PLoS Pathogens. 11, e10 05299. PMID: 266335 4 0.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005299

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Akihisa Terakita
Molecular basis for animal photoreception and its optogenetics
application
Humans obtain more than 80% of external information
through vision. Visual photoreception starts with lightabsorption by the photosensitive proteins, visual pigments,
which exist densely in the retina of the eye. In many typesof ver t ebrat e s , t he v isu a l pig ment-rel at ed prot ei n(rhodopsins) are also found in extraocular tissues andorgans, such as the brain and skin, suggesting rhodopsins
are involved in functions other than vision (nonvisualfunctions) such as light-regulation of biological rhythm. In
humans, some types of rhodopsins express in the brain.
They are attracting attention, although their functions
have not been clear. We have studied the molecular basis
and functions of extraocular photoreception and nonvisualphotoreception. Our previous studies have revealed thatseveral kinds of nonvisual rhodopsins have some properties
that support extraocular photoreceptive function in various
animals. [1, 2]
Re c ent ly, t he met ho d of genet ic a l ly i nt ro duci ng
photosensitive proteins into neurons and controlling theiractivities by light has become widely used. This method is
attracting attention as optogenetics. In the conventional
methods of optogenetics, a kind of microbial rhodopsin,which is a light-activated ion channel, is introduced into
neuron, and the neuronal activities (membrane potential
cha nge,“outlet”) are controlled by light (see ﬁg ure).
Meanwhile, animal rhodopsins are G protein- coupled
receptors, which light-dependently activate G proteins,
signal transduction molecules. Animal rhodopsins have thepotential to control the activities of various cells in addition
to neurons, by controlling the“inlets”of the cells; therefore
it is expected to become a new tool in optogenetics. [3] Theanimal rhodopsin binds to 11-cis retinal, a special isomericchromophore, which is generated by enzymes in the eye
a nd related orga ns . Because 11- cis ret i na l does notabundantly exist outside the eyes, animal rhodopsins used
to be regarded as inappropriate for optogenetics.
Some types of“extraocular”rhodopsins, which we haver e c e nt ly i d e nt i ﬁ e d , h ave pr o p e r t i e s a d e q u at e for“extraocular”functions: in contrast to vertebrate visualrhodopsins, which can absorb light only once,“extraocular”
rhodopsins revert to their original dark state when they

re c eive f u r t her l ig ht , a nd t herefore m a i nt a i n s it s
photosensitivity. As an example, due to this property, oneof animal rhodopsins, parapinopsin, which localizes to thephoto sensit ive pi nea l org a ns i n t he bra i n of lower
vertebrates, activate G proteins in response to UV light,
a nd stops act ivat ion immediately a fter visible lightabsorption. [4, 5] Also, another type of animal rhodopsins,
invertebrate Opn3, functions by binding to 13-cis retinal
chromophore, which exists throughout animal bodies.
These types of animal rhodopsins are expected to become
eﬀective tools in optogenetics. [6] In addition, some types ofrhodopsin with unique properties have been identiﬁed invarious invertebrates, and are also expected to become
optogenetic tools. [7, 8]
1) Terakita A & Nagata T, Zoolog. Sci. 31, 653-659 (2014)
2) Koya n ag i M & Tera k it a A , Bio ch i m . Biophy. Act a 18 3 7,
710-716 (2014)
3) Terakita A et al., In Optogenetics ed. Yawo H et al., pp77-88,
Springer (2015)4) Koyanagi M et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 101, 6687- 6691
(2004)
5) Kawano-Yamashita E et al., PLoS One. 10, e0141280 (2015)6) Koyanagi M. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 110, 4998-5003(2013)
7) K o y a n a g i M . e t a l . , P r o c . N a t l . A c a d . S c i . U S A . 1 0 5 ,15576-15578 (2008)
8) Nagata et al., Science 335, 469-471 (2012)

StimuliHormone, neurotransmitter, sapid
substance, smell substance,
pheromone, etc.
Animal rhodopsin(GPCR)
Cell

Microbial
rhodopsin(channel )Membranepotential change(neuron, brain.)

G protein
Signaltransduction

Gene
Enzyme Hormone
expression
activity secretion(liver, muscle, brain, etc.)

Fig: Outline of the optogenetic control ofcells using animal rhodopsins

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

6

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Completed a doctorate in science at Departmentof Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka Univ. in
Mar 1988. Research Associate at Department of
Biology, Faculty of Science, Osaka City Univ, Apr
19 8 8 - Spt 19 95. Visiting S cholar at Har vard
University, Mar 2000-Mar 2001. PRESTO JST
re s e a rc h e r O c t 2 0 0 3 - A p r 2 0 07. Le a d e r o f
Grand-in-Aid for Scientiﬁc Research on
Innovative Areas "Harmonized supramolecularmotility machinery and its diversity", from The
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology (MEXT). July 2012-Mar 2017
Current position since October 2006.

Completed a doctorate course at the Graduate
S c h o o l o f S c i e n c e , O C U i n M a r c h 19 8 9 .
Received a professorship at OCU in April 2006
af ter conducting research as a fellow of theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science, andholding positions as a research scientist at theS c i e n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y A g e n c y ( R I K E N ),as sistant (education) at Oita Universit y andassistant (science) and assistant professor at
Kyoto University. Became a researcher at theR e s e a rc h C e nte r fo r S c i e n c e S y s te m s , t h eJapan Society for the Promotion of Science inApril 2013 (concurrent post).

Makoto Miyata
How motility is developed
repeatedly!?

5

Many organisms can move. At ﬁrst glance, the motility
mechanism seems diverse. However, we understand that
almost all organisms including human being have thecom mon mecha n ism of mot i l it y when we t race t hemechanism. Namely, conventional motor proteins, Myosin,
K i nesi n , D y nei n gl ide on ra i l protei n ba sed on t hehydrolysis energy of ATP. Numerous prominent researches
have been conducted about the process of force generation
and we got considerable understanding of the mechanism.
However, based on the recent progress of genomic analysis
and visualizing technology, it is becoming clear that many
intrinsically diﬀerent mechanisms of motility exist. I am incharge of the project, "Harmonized supramolecular motility
machinery and its diversity", a Grant-in -Aid for ScientiﬁcResearch on innovative Areas from Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. In our
project, we are trying to clarify the mechanism of motility
to atomic level. We think that the understanding of various
mot i l it y mech a n isms lead to t he u nder st a nd i ng oforganisms themselves. Furthermore, it leads to methods tocontrol organisms critical for medicine and industry.
In Osaka City University, we oﬀer the technologicaldevelopment and analysis of "Quick freeze replica electron
microscopy method (which is useful but to be lost as it
stands)" and the analysis of mass spectrometry, as thegeneric support for the proposed research area, to theapproximately 50 research area- groups throughout Japan.
Besides , we study the motility mecha nisms of class
Mollicutes which is a group of pathogenic bacteria, as therole of research team at Osaka City University.
The class Mollicutes is a class of bacteria, Low- GC
branch of Gram-positive bacteria which evolved in uniqueways through parasitic life cycle in higher animals andplants. They threw away their cell wall and tail (in otherwords, peptidoglycan and ﬂagellum) which are to be thetargets of host immune system, and then obtained a softand light body. Furthermore, they obtained a method of
camouﬂage and three separate unique motility mechanisms
in order to escape from immune system thoroughly. We
have studied these three motility mechanisms of class
Mollicutes since 1997 and the research is about to reach its

climax before long. We published the proposal that theaccidental contact of adhesin, common in most pathogenic
microorga nisms a nd ATP synthetase, existing in a llorganisms and essential for maintenance of the membranepotential might have developed the gliding mechanism ofMycoplasma mobile, a freshwater-ﬁsh pathogen.
(The below ﬁgure is the magniﬁed image of the gliding
machinery of Mycoplasma mobile. Upper blue structure
like a string of beads originated from ATP synthetase. The
cell inside is colored light pink. Lower surface is the solid
surface like glass. The force is transmitted from (i) to (iii)in this order.
【References】Miyata M and Hamaguchi T (2016), Prospects forthe gliding mechanism of Mycoplasma mobile. Current Opinion
i n M icrobiolog y. 2 9 , 15 - 21 . PM I D : 2 6 5 0 018 9 .
doi:10.1016/j.mib.2015.08.010.
Nakane D, Kenri T, Matsuo L, and Miyata M (2015), Systematic
structura l a na lyses of attachment orga nelle in Myco pl a sm apneumoniae. PLoS Pathogens. 11, e10 05299. PMID: 266335 4 0.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005299

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Akihisa Terakita
Molecular basis for animal photoreception and its optogenetics
application
Humans obtain more than 80% of external information
through vision. Visual photoreception starts with lightabsorption by the photosensitive proteins, visual pigments,
which exist densely in the retina of the eye. In many typesof ver t ebrat e s , t he v isu a l pig ment-rel at ed prot ei n(rhodopsins) are also found in extraocular tissues andorgans, such as the brain and skin, suggesting rhodopsins
are involved in functions other than vision (nonvisualfunctions) such as light-regulation of biological rhythm. In
humans, some types of rhodopsins express in the brain.
They are attracting attention, although their functions
have not been clear. We have studied the molecular basis
and functions of extraocular photoreception and nonvisualphotoreception. Our previous studies have revealed thatseveral kinds of nonvisual rhodopsins have some properties
that support extraocular photoreceptive function in various
animals. [1, 2]
Re c ent ly, t he met ho d of genet ic a l ly i nt ro duci ng
photosensitive proteins into neurons and controlling theiractivities by light has become widely used. This method is
attracting attention as optogenetics. In the conventional
methods of optogenetics, a kind of microbial rhodopsin,which is a light-activated ion channel, is introduced into
neuron, and the neuronal activities (membrane potential
cha nge,“outlet”) are controlled by light (see ﬁg ure).
Meanwhile, animal rhodopsins are G protein- coupled
receptors, which light-dependently activate G proteins,
signal transduction molecules. Animal rhodopsins have thepotential to control the activities of various cells in addition
to neurons, by controlling the“inlets”of the cells; therefore
it is expected to become a new tool in optogenetics. [3] Theanimal rhodopsin binds to 11-cis retinal, a special isomericchromophore, which is generated by enzymes in the eye
a nd related orga ns . Because 11- cis ret i na l does notabundantly exist outside the eyes, animal rhodopsins used
to be regarded as inappropriate for optogenetics.
Some types of“extraocular”rhodopsins, which we haver e c e nt ly i d e nt i ﬁ e d , h ave pr o p e r t i e s a d e q u at e for“extraocular”functions: in contrast to vertebrate visualrhodopsins, which can absorb light only once,“extraocular”
rhodopsins revert to their original dark state when they

re c eive f u r t her l ig ht , a nd t herefore m a i nt a i n s it s
photosensitivity. As an example, due to this property, oneof animal rhodopsins, parapinopsin, which localizes to thephoto sensit ive pi nea l org a ns i n t he bra i n of lower
vertebrates, activate G proteins in response to UV light,
a nd stops act ivat ion immediately a fter visible lightabsorption. [4, 5] Also, another type of animal rhodopsins,
invertebrate Opn3, functions by binding to 13-cis retinal
chromophore, which exists throughout animal bodies.
These types of animal rhodopsins are expected to become
eﬀective tools in optogenetics. [6] In addition, some types ofrhodopsin with unique properties have been identiﬁed invarious invertebrates, and are also expected to become
optogenetic tools. [7, 8]
1) Terakita A & Nagata T, Zoolog. Sci. 31, 653-659 (2014)
2) Koya n ag i M & Tera k it a A , Bio ch i m . Biophy. Act a 18 3 7,
710-716 (2014)
3) Terakita A et al., In Optogenetics ed. Yawo H et al., pp77-88,
Springer (2015)4) Koyanagi M et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 101, 6687- 6691
(2004)
5) Kawano-Yamashita E et al., PLoS One. 10, e0141280 (2015)6) Koyanagi M. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 110, 4998-5003(2013)
7) K o y a n a g i M . e t a l . , P r o c . N a t l . A c a d . S c i . U S A . 1 0 5 ,15576-15578 (2008)
8) Nagata et al., Science 335, 469-471 (2012)

StimuliHormone, neurotransmitter, sapid
substance, smell substance,
pheromone, etc.
Animal rhodopsin(GPCR)
Cell

Microbial
rhodopsin(channel )Membranepotential change(neuron, brain.)

G protein
Signaltransduction

Gene
Enzyme Hormone
expression
activity secretion(liver, muscle, brain, etc.)

Fig: Outline of the optogenetic control ofcells using animal rhodopsins

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

6

OCARINA Communication 6

OCARINA Communication 6■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU

Professor, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU

Naoteru Shigekawa

7

Seiya Kobatake

Bonding of dissimilar materials
for the realization of newenergy-production and energysaving devices

Graduate d from the Depar tment of Physic s,
Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo in March
1984, and completed the master’s course at theD epar tm ent of Physic s, G raduate S cho ol of
S ci e n c e in M a rc h 19 8 6 . S t u di e d
c o m p o un d - s e mic o n du ctor h eterojun ctio ndevices at NTT Atsugi Electrical
C ommunic ations Lab oratorie s (pre sent NT T
Device Technolog y Laboratories) from April
1986 until Sep. 2011. Took up his present post inOct. 2011. Doctor of science.

Light-Driven Actuators Based on
Photochromic Organic Crystals

He received Ph.D. degree from OCU in 1996. He
engaged as postdoctoral researcher andresearch associate at Kyushu Universit y. He
moved to OCU as associate professor in 2004,
an d wa s p ro m ote d to p rofe s s or in 2 011. H ereceived the CSJ Award for Young Chemists in
2002, the APA Prize for Young Scientist in 2010,
and the JPA Award in 2014.

Since April 2015, I have been engaged in“the advanced
mater ia l project”at O CA R I NA a s a n i nterlo ck i ng
researcher. Three research groups from the Graduate
School of Science and Graduate School of Engineering are
implementing this project. I belong to the group“R&D ofcompou nd sem iconductor t a ndem sola r cel ls on
nano-structure silicon substrates”, and I am conducting
research with Prof. DaeGwi Kim, Prof. Tatsuru Shirafuji
a nd Dr. Jia nbo Lia ng of the Depa rtment of Physica l
E l e c t r o n i c s a n d I n f o r m a t i c s , G r a du a t e S c h o o l o f
Engineering. Dr. Kim is studying the new properties ofsemiconductor nano particles, and Dr. Shirafuji is engaged
in the application of atmospheric plasma. I will introduce
their research in detail on another occasion, and outline Dr.
Liang’s and my research here.
Our research focuses on“the junction (bonding) of
dissimilar materials for realizing innovative functions fromthe perspectives of energy production and energy saving”.
The sur face act ivat ion met hod is used for bondi ng :Ar-atomic beams are irradiated on the surfaces of samples
i n a va c uu m a nd t hey a re b o nde d u nder lo ad . We
manufactured hybrid tandem solar cells by bonding Si
solar cells and compound semiconductor (GaAs, InGaP, etc.)
cells, and obtained favorable properties [1]. Also, we are
evaluating the fundamental properties of junctions made ofwide-gap semiconductor materials such as SiC and GaN,
which a re attract ing attent ion in t he ﬁeld of powerelectronics, and Si or GaAs [2].
Heteroepitaxial growth technologies such as molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapor
deposition (MOCVD) have been used in the junction of
diﬀerent semiconductor materials. Using these technologies,
semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes (LED) andhigh-frequency transistors have been manufactured andput i nto pract ica l use . However, t here is a l i m it i n
combinations of semiconductors that can be integrated into
heterojunctions by growth; it is very diﬃcult̶of course it
is not impossible ̶to fabricate heterojunctions fromsemiconductors with large diﬀerence in crystal structures,
lattice constants or thermal expansion coeﬃcients. Our
approach is based on the simple idea of bonding materials if

crystal growth is diﬃcult.
According to a wise man,“God made the bulk; surfaces
were invented by the devil.”(by Wolfgang Pauli) As all of
those familiar with solid-state physics know well, theperiodicity in atomic arrangements is lost at the interfacesof dissimilar materials and, therefore, a highly denseinterface states exist in the bandgap, which is expected toexert various adverse eﬀects. To create new functions byusing the bonding interface may seem to be an ignorantattempt . However, Herbert K roemer decla red,“Theinterface is the device.”It was conﬁrmed that the inﬂuenceof interface states could be reduced through heat treatment
after bonding [3]. We are seeking structures and uses thatc a n m a x i m i z e t h e a d v a nt a g e s a n d m i n i m i z e t h edisadvantages in bonding of dissimilar semiconductors.
At present, our research mostly targets semiconductors;
however,“new functions created by bonding”may havevarious possibilities that we are not aware of. We welcome
your suggestions for expanding the range of our research.

When a molecular structure changes reversibly by someexternal stimuli, the properties of the materials consistingof the molecule can change reversibly. Such molecules will
possess the switching function . A phenomenon thatexhibits a reversible color change by photoirradiation iscalled photochromism. The photogenerated colored state ist herma lly u nstable or stable depending on t hephotochromic compounds. In many cases, photochromic
reactions take place even in solid states as well as in thesolution. However, compounds that exhibit photochromismin the crystalline state are very rare.
Color change of photochromic diarylethene crystals isshown in Figure. Due to the diﬀerent in the molecular
structure of diarylethenes, the crystal color changes toyellow, red, blue, and green by irradiation with ultraviolet(UV) light. The colored crystal is thermally stable andreturns to the orig ina l colorless one by visible lightirradiation. This is due to the reversible change in themolecular structure. The photogenerated colored isomercan be directly observed as a disorder structure by single
crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis. The cell length isslightly cha nged by the photochromic reaction. This
indicates that the shape of the bulk crysta l may bechanged by the photochromic reaction.
In 2007, a reversible crystal shape change accompanied
wit h a molecula r st r ucture cha nge of a sma ll- sized
photochromic single crystal was reported for the ﬁrst time.
[1] The corner angle of the thin crystal changed and therod-like crystal exhibited bending by the photochromic
reaction. Because such a photomechanical phenomenon canchange photon energy to mechanical energy without any
direct contact and electrical wire, it is expected as aphotoactuator for application. However, photoinduced
cr y st a l s h ap e c h a nge s a re l i m it e d t o c ont ra ct ion ,expansion, and bending, and thus creation of the more
complicated photomechanical function is required. [2-5]
Photoinduced reversible twist ing was fou nd for adiarylethene crystal. [6] There is a right-handed twisting ora left-handed twisting depending on the crystal faces
irradiated with UV light. The twisting of the crystal
requires both a gradient of photocyclization conversion in

the thickness direction and the contraction and expansionof the crystal in the diagonal direction. The crystal can beprotected by coating the crystal using thin metal ﬁlm andthin polymer ﬁ lm. Gold- coated diarylethene crystals
exhibited photoreversible bending upon a lter nat ing
irradiation with UV and visible light. It can be used as an
actual electrical circuit ON/OFF photoswitching. [7]These ﬁndings bring about not only a new strategy todesign for photomechanical actuators but also a newpractical use of photomechanical crystals.

[1]N. Shigekawa, et al. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 08KE03 (2015).
[2]J. Liang, et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 151607 (2014).
[3]M. Morimoto, et al. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 030212 (2015).

Fig: Schematic cross-section of the InGaP/GaAs/Si triple
junction solar cell (left) and its characteristics (right). [1]

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Single-crystalline
photochromism

Photomechanical phenomena of small-sizeddiarylethene crystals

8

Figure. Examples of studies on photochromism andphotomechanical phenomena of diarylethene crystals.
1) S. Kobatake, S. Takami, H. Muto, T. Ishikawa, M. Irie, Nature,
446, 778-781 (2007).
2) D. Kitagawa, S. Kobatake, J. Phys. Chem. C, 117, 20887-20892(2013).
3) D. Kitagawa, S . Kobatake, Photoch em. Photobiol. Sci., 13,764-769 (2014).
4) D. Kitagawa , R . Ta naka , S . Kobatake, Phys. Ch em. Ch em:
Phys., 17, 27300-27305 (2015).
5) D. Kitagawa, C. Iwaihara, H. Nishi, S. Kobatake, Crystals, 5,551-561 (2015).
6) D. Kitagawa, H. Nishi, S. Kobatake, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.,52, 9320-9322 (2013).
7 ) D. Kitagawa, S . Kobatake, Chem. Commun., 51, 4 421- 4 42 4(2015).

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and TechOCARINA Communication 6

OCARINA Communication 6■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU

Professor, Graduate School ofEngineering, OCU

Naoteru Shigekawa

7

Seiya Kobatake

Bonding of dissimilar materials
for the realization of newenergy-production and energysaving devices

Graduate d from the Depar tment of Physic s,
Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo in March
1984, and completed the master’s course at theD epar tm ent of Physic s, G raduate S cho ol of
S ci e n c e in M a rc h 19 8 6 . S t u di e d
c o m p o un d - s e mic o n du ctor h eterojun ctio ndevices at NTT Atsugi Electrical
C ommunic ations Lab oratorie s (pre sent NT T
Device Technolog y Laboratories) from April
1986 until Sep. 2011. Took up his present post inOct. 2011. Doctor of science.

Light-Driven Actuators Based on
Photochromic Organic Crystals

He received Ph.D. degree from OCU in 1996. He
engaged as postdoctoral researcher andresearch associate at Kyushu Universit y. He
moved to OCU as associate professor in 2004,
an d wa s p ro m ote d to p rofe s s or in 2 011. H ereceived the CSJ Award for Young Chemists in
2002, the APA Prize for Young Scientist in 2010,
and the JPA Award in 2014.

Since April 2015, I have been engaged in“the advanced
mater ia l project”at O CA R I NA a s a n i nterlo ck i ng
researcher. Three research groups from the Graduate
School of Science and Graduate School of Engineering are
implementing this project. I belong to the group“R&D ofcompou nd sem iconductor t a ndem sola r cel ls on
nano-structure silicon substrates”, and I am conducting
research with Prof. DaeGwi Kim, Prof. Tatsuru Shirafuji
a nd Dr. Jia nbo Lia ng of the Depa rtment of Physica l
E l e c t r o n i c s a n d I n f o r m a t i c s , G r a du a t e S c h o o l o f
Engineering. Dr. Kim is studying the new properties ofsemiconductor nano particles, and Dr. Shirafuji is engaged
in the application of atmospheric plasma. I will introduce
their research in detail on another occasion, and outline Dr.
Liang’s and my research here.
Our research focuses on“the junction (bonding) of
dissimilar materials for realizing innovative functions fromthe perspectives of energy production and energy saving”.
The sur face act ivat ion met hod is used for bondi ng :Ar-atomic beams are irradiated on the surfaces of samples
i n a va c uu m a nd t hey a re b o nde d u nder lo ad . We
manufactured hybrid tandem solar cells by bonding Si
solar cells and compound semiconductor (GaAs, InGaP, etc.)
cells, and obtained favorable properties [1]. Also, we are
evaluating the fundamental properties of junctions made ofwide-gap semiconductor materials such as SiC and GaN,
which a re attract ing attent ion in t he ﬁeld of powerelectronics, and Si or GaAs [2].
Heteroepitaxial growth technologies such as molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapor
deposition (MOCVD) have been used in the junction of
diﬀerent semiconductor materials. Using these technologies,
semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes (LED) andhigh-frequency transistors have been manufactured andput i nto pract ica l use . However, t here is a l i m it i n
combinations of semiconductors that can be integrated into
heterojunctions by growth; it is very diﬃcult̶of course it
is not impossible ̶to fabricate heterojunctions fromsemiconductors with large diﬀerence in crystal structures,
lattice constants or thermal expansion coeﬃcients. Our
approach is based on the simple idea of bonding materials if

crystal growth is diﬃcult.
According to a wise man,“God made the bulk; surfaces
were invented by the devil.”(by Wolfgang Pauli) As all of
those familiar with solid-state physics know well, theperiodicity in atomic arrangements is lost at the interfacesof dissimilar materials and, therefore, a highly denseinterface states exist in the bandgap, which is expected toexert various adverse eﬀects. To create new functions byusing the bonding interface may seem to be an ignorantattempt . However, Herbert K roemer decla red,“Theinterface is the device.”It was conﬁrmed that the inﬂuenceof interface states could be reduced through heat treatment
after bonding [3]. We are seeking structures and uses thatc a n m a x i m i z e t h e a d v a nt a g e s a n d m i n i m i z e t h edisadvantages in bonding of dissimilar semiconductors.
At present, our research mostly targets semiconductors;
however,“new functions created by bonding”may havevarious possibilities that we are not aware of. We welcome
your suggestions for expanding the range of our research.

When a molecular structure changes reversibly by someexternal stimuli, the properties of the materials consistingof the molecule can change reversibly. Such molecules will
possess the switching function . A phenomenon thatexhibits a reversible color change by photoirradiation iscalled photochromism. The photogenerated colored state ist herma lly u nstable or stable depending on t hephotochromic compounds. In many cases, photochromic
reactions take place even in solid states as well as in thesolution. However, compounds that exhibit photochromismin the crystalline state are very rare.
Color change of photochromic diarylethene crystals isshown in Figure. Due to the diﬀerent in the molecular
structure of diarylethenes, the crystal color changes toyellow, red, blue, and green by irradiation with ultraviolet(UV) light. The colored crystal is thermally stable andreturns to the orig ina l colorless one by visible lightirradiation. This is due to the reversible change in themolecular structure. The photogenerated colored isomercan be directly observed as a disorder structure by single
crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis. The cell length isslightly cha nged by the photochromic reaction. This
indicates that the shape of the bulk crysta l may bechanged by the photochromic reaction.
In 2007, a reversible crystal shape change accompanied
wit h a molecula r st r ucture cha nge of a sma ll- sized
photochromic single crystal was reported for the ﬁrst time.
[1] The corner angle of the thin crystal changed and therod-like crystal exhibited bending by the photochromic
reaction. Because such a photomechanical phenomenon canchange photon energy to mechanical energy without any
direct contact and electrical wire, it is expected as aphotoactuator for application. However, photoinduced
cr y st a l s h ap e c h a nge s a re l i m it e d t o c ont ra ct ion ,expansion, and bending, and thus creation of the more
complicated photomechanical function is required. [2-5]
Photoinduced reversible twist ing was fou nd for adiarylethene crystal. [6] There is a right-handed twisting ora left-handed twisting depending on the crystal faces
irradiated with UV light. The twisting of the crystal
requires both a gradient of photocyclization conversion in

the thickness direction and the contraction and expansionof the crystal in the diagonal direction. The crystal can beprotected by coating the crystal using thin metal ﬁlm andthin polymer ﬁ lm. Gold- coated diarylethene crystals
exhibited photoreversible bending upon a lter nat ing
irradiation with UV and visible light. It can be used as an
actual electrical circuit ON/OFF photoswitching. [7]These ﬁndings bring about not only a new strategy todesign for photomechanical actuators but also a newpractical use of photomechanical crystals.

[1]N. Shigekawa, et al. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 08KE03 (2015).
[2]J. Liang, et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 151607 (2014).
[3]M. Morimoto, et al. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 030212 (2015).

Fig: Schematic cross-section of the InGaP/GaAs/Si triple
junction solar cell (left) and its characteristics (right). [1]

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Single-crystalline
photochromism

Photomechanical phenomena of small-sizeddiarylethene crystals

8

Figure. Examples of studies on photochromism andphotomechanical phenomena of diarylethene crystals.
1) S. Kobatake, S. Takami, H. Muto, T. Ishikawa, M. Irie, Nature,
446, 778-781 (2007).
2) D. Kitagawa, S. Kobatake, J. Phys. Chem. C, 117, 20887-20892(2013).
3) D. Kitagawa, S . Kobatake, Photoch em. Photobiol. Sci., 13,764-769 (2014).
4) D. Kitagawa , R . Ta naka , S . Kobatake, Phys. Ch em. Ch em:
Phys., 17, 27300-27305 (2015).
5) D. Kitagawa, C. Iwaihara, H. Nishi, S. Kobatake, Crystals, 5,551-561 (2015).
6) D. Kitagawa, H. Nishi, S. Kobatake, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.,52, 9320-9322 (2013).
7 ) D. Kitagawa, S . Kobatake, Chem. Commun., 51, 4 421- 4 42 4(2015).

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and TechOCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Graduated from Depar tment of Structural
Molecular Science, the Graduate University for
A d v a n c e d S t u d i e s i n 19 9 4 . Wo r ke d a s t h e
postdoctoral researcher at the Universit y of
Alabama in 1994 and the University of South
Carolina in 1995. He became the assistant of theFaculty of Science, OCU in 1997, the lecturer of
the Graduate School of Science, OCU in 1999,
and the assistant professor of the Graduate
School in 2005, and took up his present post in
2015.

Completed his doctoral course and obtained his
do ctorate degre e (scienc e) at the Graduate
School of Science, OCU in March 19 94. Has
worked as an assistant professor, lecturer andassociate professor in the Faculty of Scienceand Graduate School of Science, OCU, sinceApril 1994, and received his professorship in
April 2006. Became a researcher at OCARINA(concurrent post) in 2015

Kazunobu Sato

Masatoshi Kozaki
Creation of new π-electron conjugate compounds and the investigation of their functions

9

Development of precise
macromolecules and the investigationof their functions
Macromolecu les t hat ca n ex press t he h igh-level
functions required in vital activities are playing activer o l e s i n l i v i n g o r g a n i s m s . Fo r i n s t a n c e , p r o t e i ncomplexes of size 10 nm or larger play a signiﬁcant rolei n pla nt s’photo sy nt hesis . P rotei n is made up of anumber of accurately arra nged atoms to express its
functions. It is possible to synthesize macromolecules ofthe same size as natural ones; however, synthesized
macromolecu les a re i ncompa rable to t hei r n at u ra lc o u nt e r p a r t s i n s t r u c t u r a l a c c u r a c y. M e a nw h i l e ,st at e - of- t he - a r t ﬁ ne pro c e s s i ng t e c h nolog ie s h ave
enabled the construction of 10
nm-scale microstructures ont h e s u r f a c e o f
semiconductors. Our researchteam is engaged in thedevelopment of tech nolog ythat can produce 10 nm-scale
molecules at will. We aim tocreate ﬁnely designed
macromolecules , provide
them with similar functions
to those of natural ones, andFig．
１： Ａ solar
to produce macromolecules light-harvesting antennathat can be used as a single molecule device throughbeing connected with a metal terminal.
I focus on molecules that belong to the dendrimer
group. Dendrimer is a precise macromolecule that has a
str ucture of repet it ive bra nches radiat ing from t hecenter toward the peripheral area . We desig ned a nde s t a b l i s h e d a m et h o d o f c o n s t r u c t i n g d e n d r i m e r
molecules that have a characteristic structure of ﬂexible
branch chains and rigid straight conjugated chains. At
present, we are trying to realize high-level functions by
usi ng t hei r ﬂex ibi l it y a nd r ig id it y. S o fa r, we havesucceeded i n creat i ng a nten n a molecu les t h at c a neﬃciently collect solar energy and molecules that canconvert light energy to electric energy. [1,2] The rigid
structures of these molecules can be used to accurately
arrange dye molecules in a three-dimensional space thatare required for expressing functions. For example, theantenna molecule shown in Fig. 1 contains three kindsof por phyrin pig ments ﬁ nely a rra nged . As a result ,energ y moves from the periphera l parts toward thec e nt e r w it h h ig h e ﬃ c ie nc y. I n a dd it io n , t he r ig id
structure of conjugated chains functions as a pathway
for the eﬃcient transfer of electrons and energy. We aim
to develop macromolecules that can express high-level

functions comparable to thoseof natural macromolecules, byaccu rately a r ra ng i ng a w ide
13.5 nm
range of functional parts in thedendrimer structure.
We h ave deve l o p e d m a ny
f unct iona l macromolecules
using the dendrimer structure.
M e a n w h i l e , t h e p r o t e i n C1188H1070N4O56MW: 16,299
mentioned earlier is made up of Fig. 2: A cross-shaped
dendrimer assembly
multiple macro sub-units that
express high-level functions. Similarly, I assume that it
is possible to express high-level functions that cannot be
accomplished through a single molecule, by integrating
mu lt iple a r t i ﬁcia l m acromolecu les a nd for m i ng a n
a s s e mb ly. For t h i s , we n e e d t e c h n o l og y t h at c a n
integrate and arrange macromolecules freely. Therefore,
I t r i e d pr o du c i n g a hu g e d e n d r it i c c o m p o u n d b y
c o mbi n i ng t he su r f a c e e nd s of de nd r i mer ’s r ig id
st r uct u res . [ 3 ] Usi ng t h is met ho d , it is p o s sible toproduce a n assembly of macromolecules in the same
way a s a ssembl i ng a molecu le model by usi ng adend r i mer st r uct u re t h at cont a i ns a n appropr i ate
number and arrangement of conjugated chains. Bonding
the macromolecules was more diﬃcult than expected;
however we patiently examined a number of reacting
conditions and separating conditions, and succeeded in
producing a huge dendrimer assembly with a diagonallength of more than 10 nm. (Fig. 2) We further improved
our molecule bondi ng tech nolog y, a nd succeeded i nsynthesizing dendrimer octamers with a total length ofa pprox i m at e ly 5 0 n m . [4] A s s how n i n F ig . 3 , t he
st r ucture of t his molecule extends out at hightemperatures a nd folds in at low temperatures. The
rigid conjugated chains present characteristic changes
in absorption spectrain accordance with theHeatingoctamer’s high- orderst r uct ura l cha nges .
Cooling
Therefore, the changes
in absorption spectra
FoldedExtendeda r e u s e d t o m o n it orFig. 3: Dendrimer assembly’s
high-order structural changet h e o c t a m e r ’s
high- order structure. We a re now trying to express
innovative functions using the characteristic high-order
structural changes of dendrimer assemblies.
References
1. A. Uetomo et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13276.
2. M. Kozaki et al. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 2010, 83, 1223.
3. M. Kozaki et al. J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 9447.
4. S. Nishioka et al. Org. Lett. 2015, 17, 2720.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Molecular spin quantum technology for material innovation
Qua ntum computers, which utilize the properties ofqua nt u m st ates , a re at t ract i ng at tent ion a s anext-generation information processing technology. They
are expected to improve computing capability greatly. In
contrast to the classical (digital) computers, which operateon the binary system of zero and one, quantum computers(QCs) operate on a quantum state, using quantum bits(so - called qubits). The QCs enable us to establish aneﬃcient information processing system with quantum
pa ra llelism a nd qua ntum sea rch a lgorithm by using
proper t ies pecu l ia r to qua nt u m st ates , such a s
super posit ion a nd ent a nglement . A lso, h igh secu recommunication is assured due to quantum no cloning
theorem. The trends toward a new quantum informationworld have a l ready beg u n . I n add it ion , a qua nt u mcomputing process is reversible; not only is one-way
computing from A (initial state) to B (ﬁnal state) possible,
but also computing from B to A. This property provides anidea l circuit model for a highly eﬃcient information
processi ng system w it hout i n for mat ion loss du r i ng
computing processes. It is no exaggeration to say thatqua ntum computers mark the beg inning of a smart ,sustainable society with eﬃcient energy use.
A research of quantum computers dates back to thetime of theoretical consideration by R. P. Feynman and D.
Deutsch in 1980’s. Subsequently, P. W. Shor’s discovery oft he qua nt u m a lgor it h m , wh ich computes pr i me
factorization at a high speed, ma rked a la rge brea kthrough. The development of the quantum algorithm andquantum computing theories has been discussed actively so
f a r. I n re c e nt ye a r s , i n order t o re a l i z e qu a nt u mcomputations, one of our tasks has been the control ofqubits in existing physical systems such as photons,
semiconductor quantum dots, superconducting magnetic
ﬂuxes and electron/nuclear spins. In order to apply themas information resources, studies have been carried out toincrease the number of qubits, develop technologies forcontrolling qubits, and establish hybrid systems thatcombine diﬀerent qubits.
We focus on t he qua nt u m proper t ies of u npa iredelectrons and the nuclear spins in molecules, and aim forthe realization and application of quantum information
processing/quantum computers, using these properties as
qubit s . I n t h i s proj e c t re s e a rc h , we pro c e e d w it hdevelopment of quantum technology for applying theelectron/nuclear spin property in molecules to information
re s ou rc e . E x p er i me nt a l a ppro a c h i s ba s e d o n ou r
knowledge of both pulsed electron spin multiple resonanceand molecular spins, which we have experienced for a longt ime. O u r cha l lenge wil l open a pat h for molecu la rquantum technology.
Pulsed magnetic resonance is a type of time-domain
spectroscopy which evaluates the magnetic interactions
and relaxation processes of spin systems by radio wave or
microwave irradiation in a static magnetic ﬁeld. As shown
in NMR, multi-dimensional spectroscopy is a powerful
methodology to measure various interactions in detail. It is
possible to apply optimized pulses for the precise spinm a n ipu l at i o n . W h e n t h e e l e c t r o n or nu c l e a r s p i n
i n for mat ion i n molecu les is considered as qua nt u m
i n fo r m at i o n , t h e e l e c t r o n o r nu c l e a r s p i n c a n b e
manipulated by means of pulsed magnetic resonancetechnique. By controlling the irradiation conditions likefrequency or strength, it is possible to excite diﬀerent spins
simulta neously or selectively. The pulsed technique,therefore, plays the role of a quantum gate as a processing
circuit which can change quantum spin states. We haveapplied the pulsed electron multiple resonance technique tomolecular spin systems, having characterized molecularentanglement between the electron and nuclear spins andveriﬁed the 4π periodicity (Spinor property) of electrons p i n o r nu c l e a r s p i n w it h a h a l f i nt eg e r a n g u l a r
momentum. We have also selectively controlled one ofcoupled electron spin (implementation of two-qubit gate).[14] We are currently developing advanced technology basedon pulsed microwaves for the precise control of theelectron spins. In order to realize quantum control formolecular quantum information processing and quantum
computers (molecule quantum cybernetics), we will makemolecular optimization for appropriate spin systems
towards quantum state control as well as application ofquantum chemical approach for highly accurate magnetic
parameter calculation. Also, we will establish an innovative
pulsed magnetic resonance technology such as coherent
microwave multiple resonance technique for molecular spinquantum computers.
1) K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., J. Mater. Chem., 19, 3739- 3754
(2009).
2) S. Nakazawa, K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., Angew. Chem.
Int. Ed., 51, 9860-9864 (2012).
3) S. Yamamoto, K. Sato, T. Takui et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.,
17, 2742-2749 (2015).
4) S. Nakazawa, K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., Chap. 28 in
Principles and Methods of Quantum Information Technologies,
Springer Japan, 605-624 (2016).

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

10

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction■Research Introduction
Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU

Graduated from Depar tment of Structural
Molecular Science, the Graduate University for
A d v a n c e d S t u d i e s i n 19 9 4 . Wo r ke d a s t h e
postdoctoral researcher at the Universit y of
Alabama in 1994 and the University of South
Carolina in 1995. He became the assistant of theFaculty of Science, OCU in 1997, the lecturer of
the Graduate School of Science, OCU in 1999,
and the assistant professor of the Graduate
School in 2005, and took up his present post in
2015.

Completed his doctoral course and obtained his
do ctorate degre e (scienc e) at the Graduate
School of Science, OCU in March 19 94. Has
worked as an assistant professor, lecturer andassociate professor in the Faculty of Scienceand Graduate School of Science, OCU, sinceApril 1994, and received his professorship in
April 2006. Became a researcher at OCARINA(concurrent post) in 2015

Kazunobu Sato

Masatoshi Kozaki
Creation of new π-electron conjugate compounds and the investigation of their functions

9

Development of precise
macromolecules and the investigationof their functions
Macromolecu les t hat ca n ex press t he h igh-level
functions required in vital activities are playing activer o l e s i n l i v i n g o r g a n i s m s . Fo r i n s t a n c e , p r o t e i ncomplexes of size 10 nm or larger play a signiﬁcant rolei n pla nt s’photo sy nt hesis . P rotei n is made up of anumber of accurately arra nged atoms to express its
functions. It is possible to synthesize macromolecules ofthe same size as natural ones; however, synthesized
macromolecu les a re i ncompa rable to t hei r n at u ra lc o u nt e r p a r t s i n s t r u c t u r a l a c c u r a c y. M e a nw h i l e ,st at e - of- t he - a r t ﬁ ne pro c e s s i ng t e c h nolog ie s h ave
enabled the construction of 10
nm-scale microstructures ont h e s u r f a c e o f
semiconductors. Our researchteam is engaged in thedevelopment of tech nolog ythat can produce 10 nm-scale
molecules at will. We aim tocreate ﬁnely designed
macromolecules , provide
them with similar functions
to those of natural ones, andFig．
１： Ａ solar
to produce macromolecules light-harvesting antennathat can be used as a single molecule device throughbeing connected with a metal terminal.
I focus on molecules that belong to the dendrimer
group. Dendrimer is a precise macromolecule that has a
str ucture of repet it ive bra nches radiat ing from t hecenter toward the peripheral area . We desig ned a nde s t a b l i s h e d a m et h o d o f c o n s t r u c t i n g d e n d r i m e r
molecules that have a characteristic structure of ﬂexible
branch chains and rigid straight conjugated chains. At
present, we are trying to realize high-level functions by
usi ng t hei r ﬂex ibi l it y a nd r ig id it y. S o fa r, we havesucceeded i n creat i ng a nten n a molecu les t h at c a neﬃciently collect solar energy and molecules that canconvert light energy to electric energy. [1,2] The rigid
structures of these molecules can be used to accurately
arrange dye molecules in a three-dimensional space thatare required for expressing functions. For example, theantenna molecule shown in Fig. 1 contains three kindsof por phyrin pig ments ﬁ nely a rra nged . As a result ,energ y moves from the periphera l parts toward thec e nt e r w it h h ig h e ﬃ c ie nc y. I n a dd it io n , t he r ig id
structure of conjugated chains functions as a pathway
for the eﬃcient transfer of electrons and energy. We aim
to develop macromolecules that can express high-level

functions comparable to thoseof natural macromolecules, byaccu rately a r ra ng i ng a w ide
13.5 nm
range of functional parts in thedendrimer structure.
We h ave deve l o p e d m a ny
f unct iona l macromolecules
using the dendrimer structure.
M e a n w h i l e , t h e p r o t e i n C1188H1070N4O56MW: 16,299
mentioned earlier is made up of Fig. 2: A cross-shaped
dendrimer assembly
multiple macro sub-units that
express high-level functions. Similarly, I assume that it
is possible to express high-level functions that cannot be
accomplished through a single molecule, by integrating
mu lt iple a r t i ﬁcia l m acromolecu les a nd for m i ng a n
a s s e mb ly. For t h i s , we n e e d t e c h n o l og y t h at c a n
integrate and arrange macromolecules freely. Therefore,
I t r i e d pr o du c i n g a hu g e d e n d r it i c c o m p o u n d b y
c o mbi n i ng t he su r f a c e e nd s of de nd r i mer ’s r ig id
st r uct u res . [ 3 ] Usi ng t h is met ho d , it is p o s sible toproduce a n assembly of macromolecules in the same
way a s a ssembl i ng a molecu le model by usi ng adend r i mer st r uct u re t h at cont a i ns a n appropr i ate
number and arrangement of conjugated chains. Bonding
the macromolecules was more diﬃcult than expected;
however we patiently examined a number of reacting
conditions and separating conditions, and succeeded in
producing a huge dendrimer assembly with a diagonallength of more than 10 nm. (Fig. 2) We further improved
our molecule bondi ng tech nolog y, a nd succeeded i nsynthesizing dendrimer octamers with a total length ofa pprox i m at e ly 5 0 n m . [4] A s s how n i n F ig . 3 , t he
st r ucture of t his molecule extends out at hightemperatures a nd folds in at low temperatures. The
rigid conjugated chains present characteristic changes
in absorption spectrain accordance with theHeatingoctamer’s high- orderst r uct ura l cha nges .
Cooling
Therefore, the changes
in absorption spectra
FoldedExtendeda r e u s e d t o m o n it orFig. 3: Dendrimer assembly’s
high-order structural changet h e o c t a m e r ’s
high- order structure. We a re now trying to express
innovative functions using the characteristic high-order
structural changes of dendrimer assemblies.
References
1. A. Uetomo et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13276.
2. M. Kozaki et al. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 2010, 83, 1223.
3. M. Kozaki et al. J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 9447.
4. S. Nishioka et al. Org. Lett. 2015, 17, 2720.

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Molecular spin quantum technology for material innovation
Qua ntum computers, which utilize the properties ofqua nt u m st ates , a re at t ract i ng at tent ion a s anext-generation information processing technology. They
are expected to improve computing capability greatly. In
contrast to the classical (digital) computers, which operateon the binary system of zero and one, quantum computers(QCs) operate on a quantum state, using quantum bits(so - called qubits). The QCs enable us to establish aneﬃcient information processing system with quantum
pa ra llelism a nd qua ntum sea rch a lgorithm by using
proper t ies pecu l ia r to qua nt u m st ates , such a s
super posit ion a nd ent a nglement . A lso, h igh secu recommunication is assured due to quantum no cloning
theorem. The trends toward a new quantum informationworld have a l ready beg u n . I n add it ion , a qua nt u mcomputing process is reversible; not only is one-way
computing from A (initial state) to B (ﬁnal state) possible,
but also computing from B to A. This property provides anidea l circuit model for a highly eﬃcient information
processi ng system w it hout i n for mat ion loss du r i ng
computing processes. It is no exaggeration to say thatqua ntum computers mark the beg inning of a smart ,sustainable society with eﬃcient energy use.
A research of quantum computers dates back to thetime of theoretical consideration by R. P. Feynman and D.
Deutsch in 1980’s. Subsequently, P. W. Shor’s discovery oft he qua nt u m a lgor it h m , wh ich computes pr i me
factorization at a high speed, ma rked a la rge brea kthrough. The development of the quantum algorithm andquantum computing theories has been discussed actively so
f a r. I n re c e nt ye a r s , i n order t o re a l i z e qu a nt u mcomputations, one of our tasks has been the control ofqubits in existing physical systems such as photons,
semiconductor quantum dots, superconducting magnetic
ﬂuxes and electron/nuclear spins. In order to apply themas information resources, studies have been carried out toincrease the number of qubits, develop technologies forcontrolling qubits, and establish hybrid systems thatcombine diﬀerent qubits.
We focus on t he qua nt u m proper t ies of u npa iredelectrons and the nuclear spins in molecules, and aim forthe realization and application of quantum information
processing/quantum computers, using these properties as
qubit s . I n t h i s proj e c t re s e a rc h , we pro c e e d w it hdevelopment of quantum technology for applying theelectron/nuclear spin property in molecules to information
re s ou rc e . E x p er i me nt a l a ppro a c h i s ba s e d o n ou r
knowledge of both pulsed electron spin multiple resonanceand molecular spins, which we have experienced for a longt ime. O u r cha l lenge wil l open a pat h for molecu la rquantum technology.
Pulsed magnetic resonance is a type of time-domain
spectroscopy which evaluates the magnetic interactions
and relaxation processes of spin systems by radio wave or
microwave irradiation in a static magnetic ﬁeld. As shown
in NMR, multi-dimensional spectroscopy is a powerful
methodology to measure various interactions in detail. It is
possible to apply optimized pulses for the precise spinm a n ipu l at i o n . W h e n t h e e l e c t r o n or nu c l e a r s p i n
i n for mat ion i n molecu les is considered as qua nt u m
i n fo r m at i o n , t h e e l e c t r o n o r nu c l e a r s p i n c a n b e
manipulated by means of pulsed magnetic resonancetechnique. By controlling the irradiation conditions likefrequency or strength, it is possible to excite diﬀerent spins
simulta neously or selectively. The pulsed technique,therefore, plays the role of a quantum gate as a processing
circuit which can change quantum spin states. We haveapplied the pulsed electron multiple resonance technique tomolecular spin systems, having characterized molecularentanglement between the electron and nuclear spins andveriﬁed the 4π periodicity (Spinor property) of electrons p i n o r nu c l e a r s p i n w it h a h a l f i nt eg e r a n g u l a r
momentum. We have also selectively controlled one ofcoupled electron spin (implementation of two-qubit gate).[14] We are currently developing advanced technology basedon pulsed microwaves for the precise control of theelectron spins. In order to realize quantum control formolecular quantum information processing and quantum
computers (molecule quantum cybernetics), we will makemolecular optimization for appropriate spin systems
towards quantum state control as well as application ofquantum chemical approach for highly accurate magnetic
parameter calculation. Also, we will establish an innovative
pulsed magnetic resonance technology such as coherent
microwave multiple resonance technique for molecular spinquantum computers.
1) K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., J. Mater. Chem., 19, 3739- 3754
(2009).
2) S. Nakazawa, K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., Angew. Chem.
Int. Ed., 51, 9860-9864 (2012).
3) S. Yamamoto, K. Sato, T. Takui et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.,
17, 2742-2749 (2015).
4) S. Nakazawa, K. Sato, Y. Morita, T. Takui et al., Chap. 28 in
Principles and Methods of Quantum Information Technologies,
Springer Japan, 605-624 (2016).

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

10

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction
Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA

Existing heat source

Masaki Nakao

Eﬀective use of thermal energy
in urban areas

11

Japan still largely depends on fossil fuels for its thermalenerg y consu mpt ion i n u rba n a rea s . For i nst a nce ,approximately 90% of the energy consumed for hot watersupply and heating in the civilian sector (business anddomestic) is produced using fossil fuels. If this energy wasused for power generation, it would account for around 20%of the total power generation within Japan. We are burning
fossil fuels to obtain temperatures of 45°C for heating and
65°C for hot water supply, which is very wasteful or“Mottainai”.
Our urban energy project reviews this“wasteful heat
supply”from the perspective of urban engineering, andinvestigates ways of meeting the need for thermal energy
in urban areas with unused energy from within the town
or city. The following is an outline of our projects, including
those to be completed this year.
Oﬃce
buildings

Governmentbuildings Cooling92%

Petroleum

Hospitals Heating
Gas
Schools, etc.
Power
Charcoal
supply Electricity
Heating

Domestic

Fossil
Hot water fuels
supply 86%

Apartment Cooling
Heating
housesPrivatehousesPower
supplyPetroleum
City
gas
LPG
Electricity

Fossil fuel consumption forheating and hot watersupply accounts for

Business

Heating
Hot water Fossil
supply fuels

Supply heat bucket
Return heat bucket

Thermalrooter

ThermalrooterFig. 1: Annual consumption of ﬁnal energy forbusiness and domestic purposes (2010)

The thermal grid system can transfer heat freely in both
directions between multiple buildings. We created a double
loop piping system, as the system’s ﬁrst model (Fig.2).
(Ministry of the Environment project (project leader:
Nakao, FY2012̃2015)) The system is applied to areas thatc o nt a i n bu i ld i ng s w it h a he at s ou rc e u s e d for a i r
conditioning (refrigerator). The loop piping and router,which switches thermal ﬂow, are installed to transfer heat.
The thermal energy model is established for buildings tominimize the amount of primary energy consumption. This
control system optimizes and greatly reduces energy
consumption through the combination of heat resources ofthe buildings.
The thermal grid consisting of double loop piping andNew heatsourceBld. 2

Fig. 4: Application of the thermal grid to six buildings withan independent heat source

at sewage disposal plants. (project leader: Dr. Kanjo, OCU,
FY2 013 ̃ 2 015) I n the metha ne fermentation process,sewage sludge is put in a processing tank, and the tank isheated to generate bio gas. See Fig. 5 for the energy ﬂow.
In the previous system, 45% of generated biogas was used
to heat the tank.
In our experimental system (see Fig. 6), the tank isheated by the heat obtained from sludge or water drained
from the tank, and solar energy. Thus, the usable amountof generated bio gas can be maximized. We will complete
the experiment by the end of the 2015 ﬁscal year, and use
the system in actual facilities.

Supply loop

Incineration

Return loop

Thermalrooter

ThermalrooterHeat source
only：Building：Heat source

Digestion
tank
53℃：Air conditioner

We believe the thermal grid system, which can transfer
heat f reely bet ween mu lt iple bu i ld i ng s , w i l l play asigniﬁcant role in applying the technologies of hydrogenenergy produced by artiﬁcial photosynthesis and waste
heat energy to urban architectures.
In the future, we will continue the study of packet
thermal energy transfer technology, which was launchedduring the development of the thermal grid system. We will
also go on to study a new form of thermal grids and innerinsulation piping.

Bio gas
120GJ/ day

Digestion tankheating
100GJ/ day

Bio gas
220GJ/ day

Fig. 2: Conﬁguration of the double-loop thermal grid

20% of fuels forthermal power
generation by
power companies

Bld. 6
Bld. 3Bld. 1

Air conditioner
only

ThermalrooterBld. 4Maingaterouters is undergoing proof-of-concept trials in the Osaka
International Exhibition Center ( Intex Osaka, Fig. 3)(Ministry of the Environment project (project leader:
Obayashi Corporation, Fig. 4). We are now examining theresults in detail, and have conﬁrmed that the system wasable to reduce the primary energy consumption amount for
air conditioning by a maximum of 70% and on average 50%
in the summer of 2015.

Feeding water at
diﬀerent
temperatures
according to theoperational state

By the Agency for Natural
Resources and Energy (2010)

Thermal grids(thermal version smart grids)

Bld. 5

Graduated from the Department of Mechanicaland Control Engineering, Graduate School of
Science and Engineering , Tok yo Institute of
Te c h n o l o g y i n M a r c h 19 7 3 . D o c t o r o fe ngin e ering . Wor ke d for N T T M u s a s hin oResearch Institute for Electrical Communication,
N T T, N T T F a c i l i t i e s , a n d S o g o S e t s u b i
Consulting, Co. Ltd. Became the professor of the
Graduate School of Science, OCU in April 2004
and took up his present post in 2015.

Boiler

Bio gasconsumption
by burning

Discharged
sludge55GJ/ dayFig. 5: The conventional digestion tank heating method(ﬁgures are for reference)

Feeding bio gas
Digestion
220GJ/day tankheating
18GJ/ day
BoilerDigestion
tank
53℃
55GJ/ day

20 2GJ/ day
Used
Power
in generation
citiesPower generation
76GJ/ dayHeat used
90GJ/ dayPower generation
37.8%
eﬃciency
44.5%
Heat use rate

Power
Discharged 11GJ/ daysludgeHeatpump

For air
conditioning

Eﬀective use in cities
Electricity*: 60GJ/ day
Heat: 90GJ/ dayThis is a Ministry of the Environment project that aims
to reduce the carbon in methane fermentation equipment

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Aquifer heat storage systems

We started a new project for aquifer heat storage (Fig. 7)
in the 2015 ﬁscal year. (Consigned by the Ministry of theEnvironment, project leader: Kansai Electric Power Co.,
Inc.) Japan is lagging behind western countries in the useof aquifer heat storage systems. (Fig. 8)
The reasons for slow spread of these are the decrease in

U.S.A.
China
SwedenGermany
France*The power consumed by the heatpump and pump (11GJ, 5GJ/ day)has been deducted from the power
generated at the sewage plant.

Fig. 6: The digestion tank heating method
using discharged sludge, etc.

A system for the eﬀective use of
sewage bio gas

1) Develop the heat source for highly eﬃcient wells(1) Realization of a completely sealed well structure(2) Drilling method for highly eﬃcient wells
・Gravel size determination method
・Screen shapes and material properties(3) Appropriate maintenance through monitoring2) Decrease the energy consumption of pumps
Realization of a completely sealed structure with awaterfall prevention function
3) Work for deregulation of water pumping in urban areas
・Est imate of g rou nd subsidence due to periodica lpumping and returning of water・Decrease in ground subsidence due to the arrangementof multiple pumping wells and returning wells
4) Develop daily heat storage system to control the peakdemand of electricity
・In addition to seasonal heat storage, adding daytime
and nighttime heat storage for leveling power loads

Solar heat
82GJ/ day

Water after sewage
treatment

Fig. 3: Trial of the thermal grid at the Osaka International
Exhibition Center（1）water ﬂow rate due to the deterioration of return wells
over time, the diﬃculty of powering water pumps, thereg ulation of water pumping in urba n areas a nd low
economic eﬃciency. We will tackle these problems in orderto spread aquifer heat storage systems.
We will work on the following tasks in collaboration with
our joint researchers (Kansai Electric Power, the General
Environmental Technos, NEWJEC, Morikawa Sakusen and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). We will develop wells withhigh water pumping and returning eﬃciencies that can beapplied to complicated stratum structures within Japan,
and study methods of decreasing the risks of groundsubsidence. Also, we will study technology for the use ofstored heat in leveling electric power loads between
daytime and nighttime, for which fundamental studies havebeen conducted jointly with Kansai Electric Power. We will
also develop an air conditioning control system for low
carbonization. From within OCU, Dr. Mitamura of the
Graduate S chool of S cience a nd Dr. Oshima a nd Dr.
Nishioka of the Graduate School of Engineering are also
participating in the project. The details of the project are
as follows:

Corresponds to a
generation amountof 1.4 million units
for domestic use(12kWt)Switzerland
Finland
As of 2013(2014 survey by
Canadathe Ministry of
Norwaythe Environment)
Japan(85MWt)

Fig. 7: The aquifer heatstorage system

Systemcapacityby country

By Lund and Boyd (2015)
Data for Japan is based on the2014 survey by the Ministry of
the Environment.

Fig. 8: Aquifer heat storage
system capacity by country

References:
1) Intex Osaka website
http://www.intex-osaka.com/jp/use/guide/reason.html
2) Geo-heat promotion association of Japan website (2015)
http://www.geohpaj.org/introduction/index1/disadv

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

12

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Research Introduction
Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA

Existing heat source

Masaki Nakao

Eﬀective use of thermal energy
in urban areas

11

Japan still largely depends on fossil fuels for its thermalenerg y consu mpt ion i n u rba n a rea s . For i nst a nce ,approximately 90% of the energy consumed for hot watersupply and heating in the civilian sector (business anddomestic) is produced using fossil fuels. If this energy wasused for power generation, it would account for around 20%of the total power generation within Japan. We are burning
fossil fuels to obtain temperatures of 45°C for heating and
65°C for hot water supply, which is very wasteful or“Mottainai”.
Our urban energy project reviews this“wasteful heat
supply”from the perspective of urban engineering, andinvestigates ways of meeting the need for thermal energy
in urban areas with unused energy from within the town
or city. The following is an outline of our projects, including
those to be completed this year.
Oﬃce
buildings

Governmentbuildings Cooling92%

Petroleum

Hospitals Heating
Gas
Schools, etc.
Power
Charcoal
supply Electricity
Heating

Domestic

Fossil
Hot water fuels
supply 86%

Apartment Cooling
Heating
housesPrivatehousesPower
supplyPetroleum
City
gas
LPG
Electricity

Fossil fuel consumption forheating and hot watersupply accounts for

Business

Heating
Hot water Fossil
supply fuels

Supply heat bucket
Return heat bucket

Thermalrooter

ThermalrooterFig. 1: Annual consumption of ﬁnal energy forbusiness and domestic purposes (2010)

The thermal grid system can transfer heat freely in both
directions between multiple buildings. We created a double
loop piping system, as the system’s ﬁrst model (Fig.2).
(Ministry of the Environment project (project leader:
Nakao, FY2012̃2015)) The system is applied to areas thatc o nt a i n bu i ld i ng s w it h a he at s ou rc e u s e d for a i r
conditioning (refrigerator). The loop piping and router,which switches thermal ﬂow, are installed to transfer heat.
The thermal energy model is established for buildings tominimize the amount of primary energy consumption. This
control system optimizes and greatly reduces energy
consumption through the combination of heat resources ofthe buildings.
The thermal grid consisting of double loop piping andNew heatsourceBld. 2

Fig. 4: Application of the thermal grid to six buildings withan independent heat source

at sewage disposal plants. (project leader: Dr. Kanjo, OCU,
FY2 013 ̃ 2 015) I n the metha ne fermentation process,sewage sludge is put in a processing tank, and the tank isheated to generate bio gas. See Fig. 5 for the energy ﬂow.
In the previous system, 45% of generated biogas was used
to heat the tank.
In our experimental system (see Fig. 6), the tank isheated by the heat obtained from sludge or water drained
from the tank, and solar energy. Thus, the usable amountof generated bio gas can be maximized. We will complete
the experiment by the end of the 2015 ﬁscal year, and use
the system in actual facilities.

Supply loop

Incineration

Return loop

Thermalrooter

ThermalrooterHeat source
only：Building：Heat source

Digestion
tank
53℃：Air conditioner

We believe the thermal grid system, which can transfer
heat f reely bet ween mu lt iple bu i ld i ng s , w i l l play asigniﬁcant role in applying the technologies of hydrogenenergy produced by artiﬁcial photosynthesis and waste
heat energy to urban architectures.
In the future, we will continue the study of packet
thermal energy transfer technology, which was launchedduring the development of the thermal grid system. We will
also go on to study a new form of thermal grids and innerinsulation piping.

Bio gas
120GJ/ day

Digestion tankheating
100GJ/ day

Bio gas
220GJ/ day

Fig. 2: Conﬁguration of the double-loop thermal grid

20% of fuels forthermal power
generation by
power companies

Bld. 6
Bld. 3Bld. 1

Air conditioner
only

ThermalrooterBld. 4Maingaterouters is undergoing proof-of-concept trials in the Osaka
International Exhibition Center ( Intex Osaka, Fig. 3)(Ministry of the Environment project (project leader:
Obayashi Corporation, Fig. 4). We are now examining theresults in detail, and have conﬁrmed that the system wasable to reduce the primary energy consumption amount for
air conditioning by a maximum of 70% and on average 50%
in the summer of 2015.

Feeding water at
diﬀerent
temperatures
according to theoperational state

By the Agency for Natural
Resources and Energy (2010)

Thermal grids(thermal version smart grids)

Bld. 5

Graduated from the Department of Mechanicaland Control Engineering, Graduate School of
Science and Engineering , Tok yo Institute of
Te c h n o l o g y i n M a r c h 19 7 3 . D o c t o r o fe ngin e ering . Wor ke d for N T T M u s a s hin oResearch Institute for Electrical Communication,
N T T, N T T F a c i l i t i e s , a n d S o g o S e t s u b i
Consulting, Co. Ltd. Became the professor of the
Graduate School of Science, OCU in April 2004
and took up his present post in 2015.

Boiler

Bio gasconsumption
by burning

Discharged
sludge55GJ/ dayFig. 5: The conventional digestion tank heating method(ﬁgures are for reference)

Feeding bio gas
Digestion
220GJ/day tankheating
18GJ/ day
BoilerDigestion
tank
53℃
55GJ/ day

20 2GJ/ day
Used
Power
in generation
citiesPower generation
76GJ/ dayHeat used
90GJ/ dayPower generation
37.8%
eﬃciency
44.5%
Heat use rate

Power
Discharged 11GJ/ daysludgeHeatpump

For air
conditioning

Eﬀective use in cities
Electricity*: 60GJ/ day
Heat: 90GJ/ dayThis is a Ministry of the Environment project that aims
to reduce the carbon in methane fermentation equipment

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Aquifer heat storage systems

We started a new project for aquifer heat storage (Fig. 7)
in the 2015 ﬁscal year. (Consigned by the Ministry of theEnvironment, project leader: Kansai Electric Power Co.,
Inc.) Japan is lagging behind western countries in the useof aquifer heat storage systems. (Fig. 8)
The reasons for slow spread of these are the decrease in

U.S.A.
China
SwedenGermany
France*The power consumed by the heatpump and pump (11GJ, 5GJ/ day)has been deducted from the power
generated at the sewage plant.

Fig. 6: The digestion tank heating method
using discharged sludge, etc.

A system for the eﬀective use of
sewage bio gas

1) Develop the heat source for highly eﬃcient wells(1) Realization of a completely sealed well structure(2) Drilling method for highly eﬃcient wells
・Gravel size determination method
・Screen shapes and material properties(3) Appropriate maintenance through monitoring2) Decrease the energy consumption of pumps
Realization of a completely sealed structure with awaterfall prevention function
3) Work for deregulation of water pumping in urban areas
・Est imate of g rou nd subsidence due to periodica lpumping and returning of water・Decrease in ground subsidence due to the arrangementof multiple pumping wells and returning wells
4) Develop daily heat storage system to control the peakdemand of electricity
・In addition to seasonal heat storage, adding daytime
and nighttime heat storage for leveling power loads

Solar heat
82GJ/ day

Water after sewage
treatment

Fig. 3: Trial of the thermal grid at the Osaka International
Exhibition Center（1）water ﬂow rate due to the deterioration of return wells
over time, the diﬃculty of powering water pumps, thereg ulation of water pumping in urba n areas a nd low
economic eﬃciency. We will tackle these problems in orderto spread aquifer heat storage systems.
We will work on the following tasks in collaboration with
our joint researchers (Kansai Electric Power, the General
Environmental Technos, NEWJEC, Morikawa Sakusen and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). We will develop wells withhigh water pumping and returning eﬃciencies that can beapplied to complicated stratum structures within Japan,
and study methods of decreasing the risks of groundsubsidence. Also, we will study technology for the use ofstored heat in leveling electric power loads between
daytime and nighttime, for which fundamental studies havebeen conducted jointly with Kansai Electric Power. We will
also develop an air conditioning control system for low
carbonization. From within OCU, Dr. Mitamura of the
Graduate S chool of S cience a nd Dr. Oshima a nd Dr.
Nishioka of the Graduate School of Engineering are also
participating in the project. The details of the project are
as follows:

Corresponds to a
generation amountof 1.4 million units
for domestic use(12kWt)Switzerland
Finland
As of 2013(2014 survey by
Canadathe Ministry of
Norwaythe Environment)
Japan(85MWt)

Fig. 7: The aquifer heatstorage system

Systemcapacityby country

By Lund and Boyd (2015)
Data for Japan is based on the2014 survey by the Ministry of
the Environment.

Fig. 8: Aquifer heat storage
system capacity by country

References:
1) Intex Osaka website
http://www.intex-osaka.com/jp/use/guide/reason.html
2) Geo-heat promotion association of Japan website (2015)
http://www.geohpaj.org/introduction/index1/disadv

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

12

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Activity Report
The 2014 OCARINA Annual International Meeting
Guest Speakers
Licheng Sun (Department of Chemistry, KTH Royal Institute of Technology,

Stockholm, SE, Professor)

Ryu Abe (Professor, Kyoto University)
Masaya Matsuoka (Professor, Osaka Prefecture University)
Tomoko Yoshida (Associate Professor, Nagoya University)
Shigeru Ikeda (Associate Professor, Research Center for Solar Energy
Chemistry, Osaka University)

Rei Narikawa (Lecturer, Shizuoka University)
Masami Nakazawa (Assistant Professor, Osaka Prefecture University)
Yoshinori Tsuji (Assistant Professor, University of Tsukuba)
Eiji Yamashita (COI-T Project leader/ General manager, Fuji Chemical
Industries Co., Ltd.)In-house Speakers
Hideki Hashimoto (Professor/ Project leader, OCARINA)
Shigeyuki Minami (Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA)
Eriko Nakadai (Specially Appointed Tenure-Track Associate Professor,
OCARINA)

13

Yoshihiro Yamaguchi (Specially Appointed Tenure-Track Associate
Professor, OCARINA)

Hajime Masukawa (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, OCARINA)
Seiya Kobatake ( Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Applied
Chemistry and Bioengineering)

Naoteru Shigekawa (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, PhysicalElectronics and Informatics)

Masaki Nakao (Extraordinary Professor, Graduate School of Engineering,
Urban Engineering)
Tasuku Hamaguchi (Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Graduate
School of Science, Biology and Geosciences)
Masakazu Hirotsu (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science,
Molecular Materials Science)
Akihisa Terakita (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Biology andGeosciences)

Kazunobu Sato (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Molecular Materials

Academic Forum,Organization for Tenure-track for Promotion
The OCU Tenure Track Study Conference was held at the Conference
Room (C03+C04) in Knowledge Capital Tower (Tower C 8F), Grand
Front Osaka on December 4, 2015.
In the conference, ﬁve tenure track researchers who were appointed
through an international public advertisement held sessions for their own
research ﬁelds, inviting outside experts as guest panelists, and conducteddiscussions regarding advanced research, which aimed to develop the
young researchers’ work.
Three members of OCARINA; Dr. Eriko Nakadai, specially appointed
tenure-track associate professor, Dr. Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, speciallyappointed tenure-track associate professor and Dr. Taka-Aki Asoh, specially appointed tenure-track lecturer, participated in
the conference. The conference started with an opening speech by Prof. Michio Miyano, Vice President of OCU, and active
discussions regarding advanced research were conducted among the guest speakers. The conference ended with a closing
speech by Prof. Hiroshi Oshima, director of the OCARINA, who encouraged the researchers in anticipation of their future
activities. The conference was highly successful.

Science/ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science)

OCARINA Seminars

Shuichi Suzuki (Lecturer, Graduate School of Science, Molecular Materials
Science)

The 2015 OCARINA Annual International Meeting was held in the OCUMedia Center on March 4 and 5, 2015. OCARINA has been carrying out
research activities under the theme of the development of next-generationenergy for urban areas, environmental preservation and ground disasterprevention, and in particular, focusing on the research of photosynthesis andsunlight for next-generation energy production.
OCA R I NA’s activities were summarized during the meeting, a nd
researchers who are engaged in the research of photosynthesis or artiﬁcial
photosynthesis domestically and internationally made presentations. In
addition, new projects for the further development of OCARINA were
proposed, and the meeting ended in success.

Distinguished Professor Michael Nobel
Special Event International Symposium
Keynote Lecture
Michael Nobel(Distinguished professor, Osaka City University)
Guest Speakers
L icheng Su n ( P rofe s s or, S cho ol of Chem ic a l S cience a ndEngineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Keiichi Tomishige (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering,Tohoku University)

OCARINA seminars are held to provide opportunities for researchers at OCARINA to talk with other researchers fromJapan and abroad, and give presentations on their research results. In addition to seminars inviting leading scientists frominside and outside of the country, a wide variety of activities such as study tours and PR activities are also held.

22nd

23rd

24th

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Feb. 20, 2015

Dr. Tilo Mathes (Free University of Amsterdam)

Theme

Translating light into biological information:
Photoactivation and signal transduction of BLUF photoreceptors

Date

May 28, 2015

Place Nankou-kita, Suminoe-ku, Osaka

Study“Aspen Accord Japan 2015, Thermal Grid Seminar and Study Tour”
Tour
Date

Aug. 3, 2015

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

GuestsDr. Toshifumi Shibata(Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Oral Infection)

Theme Gliding machinery of the gliding bacterium Flavobacterium johnsoniae

M ich i ka z u H a r a ( P rofe s s or, for mer Chem ic a l Re s ou rce s
Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

As part of the distinguished foreign researcher invitation program, OCU held
an international symposium commemorating the participation of Dr. Michael
Nobel as a distinguished guest professor, cosponsored by the Biomass
Conversion Catalysis Study Group, Catalysis Society of Japan, at Tanaka
Memorial Hall on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.
Dr. Michael Nobel, a great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel, the founder of theNobel Prize, plays an active role in a wide range of research ﬁelds. He has
held successive posts as the chairman of Nobel Sustainability Trust
Foundation, and has received many prizes, such as the Einstein Prize.
The symposium had 112 participants from within and outside of the school. Dr. Nobel gave a lecture entitled“TheInnovative Genius of the Nobel Brothers and the Nobel Prizes”, in which he talked using gestures about the origin of thedominant characters of the Nobel family, Nobel Prize and the background of Alfred Nobel, while showing valuable
documents.
In the latter part of the symposium, an active discussion was conducted with the panelists Prof. Licheng Sun, aleading researcher of artiﬁcial photosynthesis from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Prof. Tomishige andProf. Hara from the Biomass Conversion Catalysis Study Group, Catalysis Society of Japan.
From here on, we will set up a“Renewable Energy Laboratory”in the Research Center for Artiﬁcial Photosynthesis, andbegin collaborative research with Dr. Nobel, strengthening cooperation with foreign universities through his network.

Venue Building 2, 220B

Date
Guests

25th

26th

27th

28th

Date

Sep. 30, 2015

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

GuestsDr. Kazunori Kawasaki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Theme

Cell-walls and nano-structures in water analyzed through thequick freezing replica method

DateJan. 12, 2016

GuestsDr. Yoshiaki Kinoshita(Graduate Course in Life Science, Graduate School of Science, Gakushuin University)

Theme

Research on the movements of archaeal ﬂagella which diﬀer from theﬂagella of eukaryote and procaryotae

DateJan. 14, 2016

GuestsDr. Naohiro Oka (Lecturer, Preparation room for the establishment of Faculty of
Bioresource and Bioindustry (tentative name), Tokushima University)

Theme

Technical development and diversiﬁed utilization of the mass cultivation ofmarine algae on land

Date

Feb.23, 2016

GuestsDr. Shigeru Ito (Emeritus professor, Nagoya University/
Visiting professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology)

Venue Faculty of Science No.10 Lecture Room

Venue Faculty of Science Conference Room B102

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

Theme The principle and evolution of the photosynthetic photo-reaction
See the website for details.
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

14

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5■Activity Report
The 2014 OCARINA Annual International Meeting
Guest Speakers
Licheng Sun (Department of Chemistry, KTH Royal Institute of Technology,

Stockholm, SE, Professor)

Ryu Abe (Professor, Kyoto University)
Masaya Matsuoka (Professor, Osaka Prefecture University)
Tomoko Yoshida (Associate Professor, Nagoya University)
Shigeru Ikeda (Associate Professor, Research Center for Solar Energy
Chemistry, Osaka University)

Rei Narikawa (Lecturer, Shizuoka University)
Masami Nakazawa (Assistant Professor, Osaka Prefecture University)
Yoshinori Tsuji (Assistant Professor, University of Tsukuba)
Eiji Yamashita (COI-T Project leader/ General manager, Fuji Chemical
Industries Co., Ltd.)In-house Speakers
Hideki Hashimoto (Professor/ Project leader, OCARINA)
Shigeyuki Minami (Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA)
Eriko Nakadai (Specially Appointed Tenure-Track Associate Professor,
OCARINA)

13

Yoshihiro Yamaguchi (Specially Appointed Tenure-Track Associate
Professor, OCARINA)

Hajime Masukawa (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, OCARINA)
Seiya Kobatake ( Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Applied
Chemistry and Bioengineering)

Naoteru Shigekawa (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, PhysicalElectronics and Informatics)

Masaki Nakao (Extraordinary Professor, Graduate School of Engineering,
Urban Engineering)
Tasuku Hamaguchi (Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Graduate
School of Science, Biology and Geosciences)
Masakazu Hirotsu (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science,
Molecular Materials Science)
Akihisa Terakita (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Biology andGeosciences)

Kazunobu Sato (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Molecular Materials

Academic Forum,Organization for Tenure-track for Promotion
The OCU Tenure Track Study Conference was held at the Conference
Room (C03+C04) in Knowledge Capital Tower (Tower C 8F), Grand
Front Osaka on December 4, 2015.
In the conference, ﬁve tenure track researchers who were appointed
through an international public advertisement held sessions for their own
research ﬁelds, inviting outside experts as guest panelists, and conducteddiscussions regarding advanced research, which aimed to develop the
young researchers’ work.
Three members of OCARINA; Dr. Eriko Nakadai, specially appointed
tenure-track associate professor, Dr. Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, speciallyappointed tenure-track associate professor and Dr. Taka-Aki Asoh, specially appointed tenure-track lecturer, participated in
the conference. The conference started with an opening speech by Prof. Michio Miyano, Vice President of OCU, and active
discussions regarding advanced research were conducted among the guest speakers. The conference ended with a closing
speech by Prof. Hiroshi Oshima, director of the OCARINA, who encouraged the researchers in anticipation of their future
activities. The conference was highly successful.

Science/ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science)

OCARINA Seminars

Shuichi Suzuki (Lecturer, Graduate School of Science, Molecular Materials
Science)

The 2015 OCARINA Annual International Meeting was held in the OCUMedia Center on March 4 and 5, 2015. OCARINA has been carrying out
research activities under the theme of the development of next-generationenergy for urban areas, environmental preservation and ground disasterprevention, and in particular, focusing on the research of photosynthesis andsunlight for next-generation energy production.
OCA R I NA’s activities were summarized during the meeting, a nd
researchers who are engaged in the research of photosynthesis or artiﬁcial
photosynthesis domestically and internationally made presentations. In
addition, new projects for the further development of OCARINA were
proposed, and the meeting ended in success.

Distinguished Professor Michael Nobel
Special Event International Symposium
Keynote Lecture
Michael Nobel(Distinguished professor, Osaka City University)
Guest Speakers
L icheng Su n ( P rofe s s or, S cho ol of Chem ic a l S cience a ndEngineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Keiichi Tomishige (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering,Tohoku University)

OCARINA seminars are held to provide opportunities for researchers at OCARINA to talk with other researchers fromJapan and abroad, and give presentations on their research results. In addition to seminars inviting leading scientists frominside and outside of the country, a wide variety of activities such as study tours and PR activities are also held.

22nd

23rd

24th

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

Feb. 20, 2015

Dr. Tilo Mathes (Free University of Amsterdam)

Theme

Translating light into biological information:
Photoactivation and signal transduction of BLUF photoreceptors

Date

May 28, 2015

Place Nankou-kita, Suminoe-ku, Osaka

Study“Aspen Accord Japan 2015, Thermal Grid Seminar and Study Tour”
Tour
Date

Aug. 3, 2015

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

GuestsDr. Toshifumi Shibata(Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology and Oral Infection)

Theme Gliding machinery of the gliding bacterium Flavobacterium johnsoniae

M ich i ka z u H a r a ( P rofe s s or, for mer Chem ic a l Re s ou rce s
Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

As part of the distinguished foreign researcher invitation program, OCU held
an international symposium commemorating the participation of Dr. Michael
Nobel as a distinguished guest professor, cosponsored by the Biomass
Conversion Catalysis Study Group, Catalysis Society of Japan, at Tanaka
Memorial Hall on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.
Dr. Michael Nobel, a great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel, the founder of theNobel Prize, plays an active role in a wide range of research ﬁelds. He has
held successive posts as the chairman of Nobel Sustainability Trust
Foundation, and has received many prizes, such as the Einstein Prize.
The symposium had 112 participants from within and outside of the school. Dr. Nobel gave a lecture entitled“TheInnovative Genius of the Nobel Brothers and the Nobel Prizes”, in which he talked using gestures about the origin of thedominant characters of the Nobel family, Nobel Prize and the background of Alfred Nobel, while showing valuable
documents.
In the latter part of the symposium, an active discussion was conducted with the panelists Prof. Licheng Sun, aleading researcher of artiﬁcial photosynthesis from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Prof. Tomishige andProf. Hara from the Biomass Conversion Catalysis Study Group, Catalysis Society of Japan.
From here on, we will set up a“Renewable Energy Laboratory”in the Research Center for Artiﬁcial Photosynthesis, andbegin collaborative research with Dr. Nobel, strengthening cooperation with foreign universities through his network.

Venue Building 2, 220B

Date
Guests

25th

26th

27th

28th

Date

Sep. 30, 2015

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

GuestsDr. Kazunori Kawasaki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Theme

Cell-walls and nano-structures in water analyzed through thequick freezing replica method

DateJan. 12, 2016

GuestsDr. Yoshiaki Kinoshita(Graduate Course in Life Science, Graduate School of Science, Gakushuin University)

Theme

Research on the movements of archaeal ﬂagella which diﬀer from theﬂagella of eukaryote and procaryotae

DateJan. 14, 2016

GuestsDr. Naohiro Oka (Lecturer, Preparation room for the establishment of Faculty of
Bioresource and Bioindustry (tentative name), Tokushima University)

Theme

Technical development and diversiﬁed utilization of the mass cultivation ofmarine algae on land

Date

Feb.23, 2016

GuestsDr. Shigeru Ito (Emeritus professor, Nagoya University/
Visiting professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology)

Venue Faculty of Science No.10 Lecture Room

Venue Faculty of Science Conference Room B102

Venue Faculty of Science No.6 Lecture Room

Theme The principle and evolution of the photosynthetic photo-reaction
See the website for details.
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

14

OCARINA Communication 5

OCARINA Communication 5

History of the Osaka City University Advanced Research Institute for
Natural Science and Tehnology
2008

March
April

December2010 March
March
OctoberNovember
2011
2012

December
March
March

April
July
2013 March
April

2014

Founding Anniversary International Symposium held
The OCU strategic key research project (2008-2011) started
International Workshop held on the eﬃcient use of sunlight energy

1st International symposium held
Enforcement of oﬃcial regulations(start of activities as an oﬃcial bureau)
Building 2 renovated for research ﬂoors of OCARINA
Opening symposium for building 2 of OCARINA held

The OCU Advanced Research Institute for Natural Science and Technology

2nd International symposium held

3rd International symposium, “Kakuno memorial,” held
Annual meeting and the OCU strategic key research project(2008-2011) debrieﬁng held
The OCU strategic key research project (2012-2014) started
School of Science Building C completed, partial occupation
4th International symposium held
2 new full-time staﬀ members appointed

June

Research Center of Artiﬁcial Photosynthesis opened

February
February
March
March

Partial occupation for the new School of Science Building

April
April
2015 March
April
April

OCARINA通信

One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
5th International symposium held
One new full-time tenure track staﬀ member appointed
The OCU strategic key research project (2014-2015) started
6th International Symposium held
One new full-time staﬀ member appointed
New project started

̶ Special Project̶

Research Project Reports and Future Prospects“The new projects have created more results than expected.”
Discussion with leaders of new projects about progress
report and prospects for the future
̶Research Introduction̶

Makoto Miyata Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「How motility is developed repeatedly!?」

Akihisa Terakita Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「Molecular basis for animal photoreception and its optogenetics application」

Naoteru Shigekawa Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU

Osaka City University Advanced Research Institutefor Natural Science and Technology
3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka 558-8585, Japan
http://www.ocarina.osaka-cu.ac.jp/
Midosuji sub.

「Bonding of dissimilar materials for the realization of
new energy-production and energy-saving devices」

Seiya Kobatake Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, OCU「Light-Driven Actuators of Photochromic Organic Crystals」

Masatoshi Kozaki Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU「Creation of new π-electron conjugate compounds and the investigation of their functions」

Kazunobu Sato Professor, Graduate School of Science, OCU
JR Shinkansen「Molecular spin quantum technology for material innovation」

Shin-Osaka

to Shin-Kobe

JR Kobe line

Masaki Nakao Specially Appointed Professor, OCARINA「Eﬀective use of thermal energy in urban areas」

Osaka

to Shin-Kobe
JR Tozai line

KyobashiTsuruhasi

OSAKA-loop line

Tennoji
Abiko

Sugimoto-cho
Kansai Airport

Sugimoto
Campus (OCARINA)

̶Activity Report̶

The 2014 OCARINA Annual International Meeting
Distinguished Professor Michael Nobel Special Event International Symposium
Academic Forum,Organization for Tenure-track for Promotion

Vol.5

OCARINA Seminars

Hineno
JR Hanwa line
The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech

The OCU Advance Research Institute for Natural Science and Tech