Call for Proposal
Basic information of the Research Area
[Dual Biological Potentials]Multiscale and interdisciplinary approaches to investigate mechanisms of resilience and diversification across wide ranges of spatiotemporal metrics
Research Supervisor
Tadashi Uemura（provisional）Professor, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University
Strategic Objective
Measuring “resilience of life” — Discovery and exploration of unknown biological response mechanisms
Overview
The focus of this research area is on the dual nature of organisms’ responses, resilience and diversification, across a wide range of spatiotemporal metrics, with the aim of elucidating and eventually controlling their underlying mechanisms through the optimization and development of multiscale and cross-disciplinary techniques.
Biological phenomena occur across a large range of spatial scales, from molecules to tissues, individuals, and populations; they are also variable with regard to temporal scales, as represented by fast chemical reactions in cells or the lifespan of individuals, extending to transgenerational effects. Within this vast spatiotemporal world, although organisms respond to external stimuli over time, they resist or recover from such perturbations (resilience). They may also chance to attain a distinct, stable state that differs from the original state (diversification). Collectively, these organisms’ responses are considered as "biological potentials" in this research area.
In order to elucidate the mechanisms of resilience and diversification, it is critical to clarify the causal relationships among biological phenomena across large spatiotemporal scales. Therefore, it is necessary to construct appropriate quantitative methods by combining and/or optimizing existing techniques or even developing new ones, depending on the modality of information to be obtained and the amount of data to be collected. Currently, the recent advancement of omics and other technologies has made it possible to acquire large amounts of complex data at individual coordinate points in space and time. Thus, informatics approaches will be indispensable to leverage individual as well as multiple data sets to comprehend their biological significance.
By cycling measurements, data analysis, hypothesis formulation, and verification, this research area aims at elucidating the mechanisms that shape biological potentials in various contexts. Moreover, this research area will uncover previously overlooked biological potentials.
Research Area Advisors
| Hiroshi Kawasaki | Professor, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University |
|---|---|
| Kentaro Shimizu | Director, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich／Guest Professor, Kihara Institute for Biological Studies, Yokohama City University |
| Yoichi Shinkai | Chief Scientist, CPR, RIKEN |
| Yasukazu Nakamura | Professor, Department of Informatics, National Institute of Genetics |
| Nobuhiko Nomura | Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences , University of Tsukuba |
| Yu Hayashi | Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo |
| Fumio Matsuda (provisional) | Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University |
The list of Research Area Advisor will be updated later.
Schedule of Selection Process
| Deadline for application | 2024/05/28 at 12:00 noon, Japan time |
|---|---|
| Document-based review | 2024/07/02 |
| JST will contact to the interviewees no later than | 2024/07/09 |
| Interview-based review（ONLINE） ※Interview date and time will be assigned by JST. |
2024/07/25, 2024/07/26 |
Research Supervisor's Policy
Research Supervisor's Policy of this Research Area can be downloaded from below.
How to apply
Please fill in the following application forms, and hand in via e-Rad. How to use e-Rad can be checked from here.(Note) Please note that Proposals only with the following application forms will be accepted.