The Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) is a Strategic Research Center of the Japanese national research and development institute, Riken. In November 2014, they succeeded in making a translucent mouse in order to see its internal organs more clearly.

Overview

QBiC is a

systems biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological syst ...

research center. The center is led by director

Toshio Yanagida (born 1946) is a Japanese biophysicist famous for his pioneer research in single molecule biology, and made important contributions to single molecule fluorescence microscopy. Contribution Yanagida has been leading the development of single m ...

and is divided into three research cores. * Cell Dynamics Research Core * Computational Biology Research Core * Cell Design Research Core

Research Cores

Cell Dynamics Research Core

The Cell Dynamics Research Core houses the Laboratory for Cell Polarity Regulation, led by Yasushi Okada. Okada reported the first visualization of Mitochondrial Derived Vesicles (MDV) from mitochondrial protrusions using ultrafast super-resolution fluorescence imaging with

spinning disk confocal microscope Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser confocal scanning microscopy (LCSM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a s ...

optics. This core also includes Shuichi Onami's Laboratory for Developmental Dynamics creator of the Biological Dynamics Markup Language ( BDML). The Onami lab hosts th
Systems Science of Biological Dynamics (SSBD) database

Computational Biology Research Core

The Computational Biology Research Core is a user of the

K computer The K computer named for the Japanese word/numeral , meaning 10 quadrillion (1016)See Japanese numbers was a supercomputer manufactured by Fujitsu, installed at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science campus in Kobe, Hyōgo Pref ...

and developer of the

MDGRAPE-4 MDGRAPE-4 is a supercomputer under development at the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) in Suita is a city located in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 378,322 and a populat ...

supercomputer.

Cell Design Research Core

The Cell Design Research Core houses the Laboratory for Synthetic Biology which reported the see-through mouse. This core is also notable for housing Yoshihiro Shimizu's Laboratory for Cell-Free Protein Synthesis, developer of the PURE cell free protein expression system. Yo Takana's Laboratory for Integrated Biodevice, which created a

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

from the

electric organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the pump organ, harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has sinc ...

of a torpedo ray.

References

{{authority control Research institutes in Japan Riken