What is FBS?
Message from the Dean
Dean’s speech to prospective students
Highly original science with the freedom to pursue fun and exciting research
Through the coordination of the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences (FBS) was founded in April 2002, bringing together laboratories from the four Graduate Schools of Medicine, Engineering Science, Science, and Engineering. This year marks its 20th anniversary. The Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, which served as its parent organization, was founded as a new life science center in April 1982. In its 40 years of existence, it has produced countless highly original, world-class research and many outstanding scientists and individuals.
I believe that science is valued for its originality. The work of science is to discover the essence of the unknown. The ability to perceive this essence can be acquired by obtaining the knowledge humanity has accumulated and, despite failures, by repeatedly tackling new possibilities as well as thinking and learning while actively observing and experimenting. During this process, you may unexpectedly encounter strange phenomena, beautiful things, amazing occurrences, and results that can only be represented in a whispered, "wow...." You might even unearth discrepancies in facts written in textbooks or something that has not been written at all! These are the times when you are at the door of discovering the essence of the unknown. Soon, logical intuition takes over from your simple hunch or theory, and you are able to conduct a decisive experiment. After which, you become an expert of highly original science that you, yourself, created.
The Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences is home to outstanding scientists from a broad range of academic disciplines who work toward clarifying the functions of life. To quote the late Dr. YAMAMURA Yuichi (clinical immunologist and former president of Osaka University), "If you gather brilliant people together, they will compete with each other, mutually encouraging each other to become even better people, which will further stimulate an organization into action.” I also think that within that environment of friendly competition, the freedom to pursue fun and exciting research that each individual finds interesting is important at FBS. As in life, members of FBS may be at the right place and the right time to come together, almost as if they were chosen by inevitability, to explode with original ideas and research. Through our five-year integrated doctoral course, the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences fosters opportunities to pursue fun and exciting research for outstanding graduate students. We hope to continue surprising the world with highly original science created here through the essence of friendly competition.
Overview
Life is full of the kind of wonder and surprise children often feel when they touch upon nature.
At the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, we aim to clarify these principles and mechanisms of all functions created by systems of "life."
We train pioneering leaders in biosciences. In recent years, there has been a succession of major technological innovations in the biosciences field, including the establishment of methods for genome sequencing and genome editing and possible applications in previously unpredictable areas have expanded to the fields of pharmaceuticals, agricultural studies, and material engineering. These breakthroughs are leading to answers to questions concerning the essence of life itself. Research methods are also progressing. While much of the research in biology has centered on genetics and biochemistry thus far, interdisciplinary approaches are now required, using advanced technologies in optical engineering, information engineering, robotics, AI, and other fields. To meet the needs of this new era of biosciences, the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences aims to nurture future leaders capable of conceiving creative ideas and contributing to the world through research. FBS offers a five-year doctoral degree program headed by academic staff in wide-ranging specialties to educate students using an interdisciplinary research environment encompassing the fields of medicine, engineering, and science.
We study life and its possibilities by collecting ideas that intrigue people working in diverse specialties, which include engineering, physics, and information science, as well as biosciences and medicine. Fascinating, exciting, and fun research awaits you here.
