ProjectsLife Science

Research Overview

Japan's food industry is facing a shrinking domestic market and fierce competition in overseas markets. New food products must be developed that are highly desirable in European, American, and Asian markets. In collaboration with industry and academia, we are developing technologies in food analysis, processing, and microbial fermentation, using the latest instruments, highly-sensitive quantification methods, selective enrichment techniques, and genomic information systems.　In this project, we will introduce food products for international markets through the use of advanced ingredient conversion technologies based on high-quality raw materials in the Tohoku region.

Research Features

In recent years, rapid progress has been made in food ingredient analysis and processing technologies. As one of the leading groups in the world, we have special expertise in highly-sensitive and precise analysis technology for nutritional components and trace functional components, which are required for the expansion of the functional-food market. Our expertise extends to evaluation technology using cellular and biological systems and processing technology for food ingredients.

We also are developing internationally superior proprietary technologies on microbial fermentation, as a common technology for chemical production and food processing in collaboration with industry and academia that incorporate microbial genomic data.

This project aims to complete the construction of an integrated development platform for local food companies to develop new international commercial products through industry-academia collaboration.

Expected Outcomes and Developments

The development and industrial utilization of food biotechnology is extremely important for the industrial revitalization of the Tohoku region, which has traditionally remained a production and supply base for primary food products.

For the development of the Tohoku food industry and its global expansion, there is a great need for new processing technologies for primary products such as Tohoku's agricultural, forestry, and marine products, as well as new biotechnologies for fermentation and brewing to add value to the ingredients. The creation of new safe and high-quality food and fermentation products using the results of this project will strengthen the industrial competitiveness of not only the Tohoku region but also all over Japan, and will lead to a transformation of Tohoku and Japan's food and fermentation industry from a regional and domestic industry focused on domestic demand to an international industry focused on exports. This will accelerate the development of the food industry in Tohoku and Japan, and contribute to the creation of a healthy and long-lived society through the development of foods that can promote health and lower the risks of diabetes, heart disease and, cancer.

Furthermore, by using AI (Artificial Intelligence), we will develop a system that can provide scientific rationale of physiological functionality of simultaneous intake of multiple ingredients and multiple species as “food”, which was historically unattainable in the past.