The 33rd International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR2023) was held at Makuhari Messe from June 5 to 9, 2023. It was a lively conference with 1209 participants from 42 countries (regions) (792 from overseas and 363 students).
ICAR2023 Program & Booklet

Farewell party for Dr. Kentaro Nakaminami and Mr. Hinata Motegi was held.

The recent research results of our team were published as Feature Highlight of "RIKEN Research".

The recent research results of our team were published in "Research News - Research Highlight" and INFOGRAPHIC of "RIKEN Research".

Farewell party for Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga was held.

Dr. Bashir's recent paper was selected as an Editor's Choice in the September 2022 issue of Plant and Cell Physiology, featured as Research Highlights and published as a cover image. It was also introduced by overseas media in more than 20 countries, including CNN, BBC, and Yahoo! News.

Ethanol-Mediated Novel Survival Strategy against Drought Stress in Plants

Ethanol increases high temperature tolerance in plants

Farewell party for Ms. Megumi Miyamoto was held.

Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi, Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga and Ms. Chikako Utsumi received the FY2021 RIKEN CSRS Incentive Award.

Unwinding the secrets of stress in plants could help feed the world during climate crisis

Dr. Akihiro Ezoe joined the lab.

Ms. Miho Makino joined the lab.

Ms. Zarnab Ahmad passed the PhD examination at University of the Punjab.

Welcome party for Ms. Quynh Thi Nhu Do was held.

Development of a cassava transformation system for the Southeast Asian elite variety

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2021.

Farewell party for Ms. Zarnab Ahmad was held.

Discovery of a compound that enhances drought stress tolerance and biomass productivity of plants

Gene Expression Regulatory Mechanism Analyzed in Chinese Cabbage

Dr. Daisuke Todaka and Mr. Hinata Motegi joined the lab.

Farewell party for Dr. Akihiro Matsui and Ms. Yuiko Sato was held.

Farewell party for Dr. Khurram Bashir was held.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2020.

Approaching the mystery of cassava flowering.

Elucidation of tuberous root formation mechanism in cassava.

The Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) Annual Meeting was held as a Zoom meeting. The venue and date of The 33rd International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR 2023) were decided as follows:

Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, June 5 - 9, 2023

Discovery of a new compound to enhance plant salt tolerance.

Ms. Thu Anh Vu and Ms. Aya Sakamoto got the Master's degree and Bachelor's degree, respectively, from Yokohama City Univ.

Due to the current global COVID-19 situation, ICAR 2020/2021/2022 Organizing Committees have collaboratively decided to postpone the upcoming International Conferences on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) by one year such that ICAR 2020 becomes ICAR 2021-Seattle, followed by ICAR 2022-Belfast and ICAR 2023-Japan.

Farewell party for Dr. Sultana Rasheed was held.

Prof. Iris Finkemeier（University of Münster）and Prof. Dirk Schwarzer（University of Tübingen）gave a seminar at RIKEN Yokohama.

Seki TL participated in the 2020 AAAS (American association for the Advancement of Science) Annual Meeting, and presented his research at the RIKEN International Affairs Division's session “Food of the Future: Developing New, Sustainable, and Healthy Sources”.

Drs. Motoaki Seki and Yoshinori Utsumi visited National Chung Hsing University.

Year-end party of our lab was held.

The 1st Cassava Workshop “Thinking about future direction of cassava research” was held at RIKEN Yokohama.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2019.

An interview to Dr. Khurram Bashir about Japanese food was broadcast on NHK World TV.

Mr. Shigeharu Kato (RIKEN Executive Director) visited Agricultural Genetics Institute (AGI)/International Laboratory for Cassava Molecular Breeding (ILCMB). While visiting the research facility under the guidance of Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga, Mr. Kato has exchanged the opinions with Dr. Pham Xuan Hoi (Director, AGI), Dr. Le Huy Ham (Chairman of science council and former director, AGI) and Dr. Dindo Campilan (Director, Asia regional office, CIAT).

Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi and Dr. Motoaki Seki attended the COSMIC Workshop “Physiology meets structure - Integrative models for assimilate transport” (22nd - 24th September 2019, Bamberg, Germany) and gave the presentations on the cassava research.

A tapioca milk tea sales event was held as an event of the RIKEN Kyosaikai Yokohama Branch. The 250 cups prepared were sold out and a laboratory introduction card was distributed to those who purchased them.

Dr. Nobuo Ogita (NAIST, Umeda Lab) received "The Plant Journal - 2018 Outstanding Student Paper Awards - Original Article".

Clarifying the mechanism that controls flowering in Napa cabbage (Collaboration with Dr. Fujimoto, Kobe Univ)

An ICAR2019 workshop “Plants Contribute to SDGs” was held at Wuhan.

The seminars of JST EIG CONCERT-JAPAN project (COSMIC, PI: Dr. Salome Prat) were held at RIKEN Yokohama.

Workshop on Production and Dissemination of Cassava Healthy Seeds in Cambodia was held at University of Battambang.

Dr. Kentaro Nakaminami received the FY2018 RIKEN CSRS Incentive Award.

Mr. Yuji Sunaoshi and Mr. Takahiro Abe got the Master's degree from Yokohama City Univ..
Mr. Yuji Sunaoshi got the best Master's thesis presentation award and attended the graduation ceremony of Yokohama City Univ. as the representative of Master course students (Dept. of Life and Environmental System Science, Yokohama City Univ.)

Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation in Plants (PGRP) 2019 was held at Nara (Organizing Committee Members: Misato Ohtani, Motoaki Seki and Yukio Kurihara).

Farewell party for Dr. Kaori Sako and Mr. Takahiro Abe was held.

The welcome party for Ms. Nobuko Kimura was held.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader started the EIC activity of Plant Molecular Biology after Prof. Wilhelm Gruissem (ETH Zurich).

Year-end party of our lab and Farewell party for Mrs. Minako Sumita was held.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2018.

Mr. Yuji Sunaoshi received the FY2018 CSRS Interim Progress Report Poster Award.

The farewell party for Ms. Erika Moriya was held.

"The 2nd Cassava Mini Workshop 2018 RIKEN" was held in RIKEN Yokohama. This was supported by JST/JICA SATREPS project (PI: Dr. Keishi Takasu).

Dr. Anh Hai Nguyen (AGI) visited our lab.

4-Country Joint Coordinating Committee Meeting (4JCC) of SATREPS project was held in AGI (Hanoi).

Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi and Dr. Motoaki Seki attended the COSMIC Workshop "Physiology meets development - metabolic and molecular control of crop yield" (16th - 18th September 2018, Bamberg, Germany) and gave the presentations on the cassava research.

Dr. Khurram Bashir and Dr. Ryoung Shin (Unit Leader, CSRS Environmental Response Research Unit) organized the workshop "Chemical regulation in plant stress tolerance" at ICAR2018（The 29th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research) and gave the presentations.

Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi, Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga and Dr. Motoaki Seki attended "GCP21-IV:The Fourth Scientific Conference of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century" and gave the presentations on the cassava research.

AtPep3 is a hormone-like peptide that plays a role in salinity stress tolerance of plants.

Dr. Motoaki Seki attended the MOU signing ceremony between RIKEN CSRS and Michigan State University Plant Resilience Institute.

An International Workshop of JST EIG CONCERT-JAPAN project (PI: Dr. Salome Prat) was held in RIKEN Yokohama.

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Dr. Jong-Myong Kim, Dr. Huong Mai Nguyen and Dr. Kaori Sako received the FY2017 RIKEN CSRS Incentive Award.

The welcome party for Ms. Yuiko Sato, Ms. Thu Anh Vu and Ms. Akiko Sato was held.

Mrs. Huong Mai Nguyen got PhD from Yokohama City Univ. Mrs. Houng Mai Nguyen attended the graduation ceremony of Yokohama City Univ. as the representative of PhD students of Dept. of Life and Environmental System Science, Yokohama City Univ.

The farewell party for Ms. Tomoe Nakamura, Ms. Hiroko Tsuchida, Ms. Ikuko Ishihara, Ms. Masae Kono and Ms. Miyako Sakurai was held.

Ms. Tomoe Nakamura got Master Degree from Tokyo Univ. of Sci.

Dr. Motoaki Seki and Dr. Khurram Bashir gave the invited talks at the international workshop at Punjab Univ (Pakistan).

Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi received the FY2017 RIKEN Research Incentive Award.

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Year‐end party of our lab and Farewell party for Mrs. Huong MAI NGUYEN and Dr. Chien VAN HA was held.

Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2017
riken news

A Kickoff Meeting of JST EIG CONCERT-JAPAN project (PI: Dr. Salome Prat) was held in Madrid.

A Seminar Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of Pakistan-Japan Diplomatic Relations was held in the Embassy of Pakistan.
Link

The Distinct Roles of Class I and II RPD3-Like Histone Deacetylases in Salinity Stress Response.
Press Release

Farewell party for Ms. Seiko Nomura, and Welcome party for Ms. Hiroko Tsuchida, Ms. Zarnab Ahmad, Ms. Aya Sakamoto and Ms. Megumi Miyamoto was held.

A simple method for estimating biosynthetic genes for secondary metabolites
Press Release

Mr. Anh Hai Nguyen has passed the PhD examination at VAAS.

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Farewell Party for Mrs. Akiko Takashiba was held.

Discovery of a novel mechanism of antisense ncRNA-mediated environmental stress adaptation in plants

Discovery of ethanol-mediated high-salinity tolerance mechanism in plants
Press Release

Vinegar: a cheap and simple way to help plants fight drought
Press Release

Ms. Onsaya Patanun got a Ph.D from Mahidol Univ.

An international symposium on genome editing (JSPS Brain Circulation Project; PI: Dr. Hiroyuki Tsuji) was held in AGI/ILCMB (Vietnam).
Link

Real-time visualization of plant epigenetic dynamics.
Press Release

A joint meeting with the labs of Dr. Kazuo Shinozaki (RIKEN CSRS) and Dr. Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki (Univ. of Tokyo) was held in Univ. of Tokyo.

Dr. Chien Van Ha and Mr. Takahiro Abe and the welcome party was held.

Farewell Party for Mrs. Cam Chau Thi Nguyen and Mr. Yoshio Takei, and Celebration Party for Academic Degree from Yokohama City Univ. to Mrs. Cam Chau Thi Nguyen (PhD), Mrs. Sultana Rasheed (PhD), Mr. Yoshio Takei (Master's degree) and Mr. Yuji Sunaoshi (Bachelor's degree) were held. Mr. Yoshio Takei got the best Master's thesis presentation award.

JCC2 of SATREPS project was held in Univ. of Battambang (Cambodia).

"International Symposium on Environmental Stress Adaptation and Memory in Plants" was held in RIKEN Yokohama Campus.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader has been selected for Highly Cited Researchers 2016.
Link

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Ms. Huong Thi Tong (Agricultural Genetics Institute, Vietnam) and Mr. Minh Ba Nhat Nguyen (Hung Loc Agricultural Research Center) joined the lab to learn the tissue culture and molecular biology techniques.

Dr. Motoaki Seki introduced the cassava project and the International Laboratory for Cassava Molecular Breeding (ILCMB) to the MEXT State Minister Tsutomu Tomioka and a delegation from JST at Agricultural Genetics Institute (Hanoi).

 

Farewell Party for Ms. Onsaya Patanun was held.

A team meeting of CREST project was held in RIKEN.

A kickoff meeting of SATREPS project (Research theme: Development and Dissemination of Sustainable Production System Based on Invasive Pest Management of Cassava in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, PI: Prof. Keiji Takasu, Kyushu Univ.) was held in Agricultural Genetics Institute (Hanoi).

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga started the cassava research at the International Laboratory for Cassava Molecular Breeding (ILCMB, Hanoi).

A joint meeting with the labs of Dr. Kazuo Shinozaki (RIKEN CSRS) and Dr. Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki (Univ. of Tokyo) was held in Univ. of Tokyo.

Dr. Hiroki Tokunaga joined the lab and the welcome party was held.

A Stress-activated transposon in Arabidopsis induces transgenerational abscisic acid insensitivity. Link

Dr. Motoaki Seki attended "GCP21-III:The Third Scientific Conference of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century" as an International Organizing Committee Member. Three RIKEN researchers (Dr. Motoaki Seki, Dr. Yoshinori Utsumi and Mr. Yoshio Takei) gave the invited talks. Link

An article of Dr. Motoaki Seki was published as Research Frontier of RIKEN NEWS No. 415 January 2016.　 Link

Chemical compound with epigenetic regulation improves resistance to salinity stress. Link

A JST CREST International Symposium was held in RIKEN Yokohama Campus.
Link  Photo Poster

Dr. Jong-Myong Kim won Best Papers (BP) Prize in the 87th Meeting of the Genetics Society of Japan. Link

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications"

An international workshop of e-ASIA JRP Cassava Project was held in Science Park (Thailand)
Program   Photo

"Mr. Yuji Sunaoshi joined the lab."

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader, has been selected for "Highly Cited Researchers 2015" by Thomson Reuters.  Link

Ms. Huong Thi Tong joined the lab. 　　　　　　

Dr. Jong-Myong Kim talked in "RIKEN DAY: Let's talk with researchers" (at Science Museum).

Dr. Daisuke Ogawa (NIAS), a CREST project member, won a prize for excellent presentation in the 127th Meeting of the Japanese Society of Breeding. Link

Ms. Tomoe Nakamura joined the lab.

Farewell Party for Dr. Taku Sasaki, Mr. Anh Hai Nguyen and Ms. Masae Haruta was held.

Dr. Kentaro Nakaminami talked in "RIKEN DAY: Let's talk with researchers" (at Science Museum).

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

Ms. Akiko Takashiba joined the lab.

Information on new papers was added on the page "Publications".

An international symposium "Collaboration between Japan and Vietnam for the sustainable future" was held in Hanoi.
Click here for details

Comparative analysis between transcriptome and proteome indicated novel post-transcriptional regulation mechanism during cold acclimation and deacclimation.
[Press Release] [Nakaminami K. et al., Mol Cell Proteomics, 13, 3602-11

Mr. Ha The Vu and Ms. Thu Anh Vu joined the lab.

Dr. Motoaki Seki, Team Leader, has been selected for “Highly Cited Researchers 2014” by Thomson Reuters.Link

Dr. Alessandra Devoto（Royal Holloway - University of London） joined the lab to drive "Royal Society International Collaborative Project (Analysis of chromatin remodelling during drought and hormone treatment)".