•   July 1 2022

Open Fieldcourse

We will hold a open course for high school students from August 2nd (Tuesday) to 5th (Friday). Please read the pdf for details and application requirements. Applications for participation will be accepted by mail.

→ PDF can be downloaded here

•   June 28 2022

Open Fieldcourse

The Shimoda Marine Research Center of the University of Tsukuba will hold an open fieldcourse "Field course of the Mountain and Sea" for undergraduate students from August 22nd (Monday) to August 26th (Friday). If you wish to take the course, please send the required documents to the Life and Environmental Area Support Office, University of Tsukuba by the deadline (July 11th).

→ Required documents can be downloaded from here

•   May 26 2022

Open Fieldcourse

The Shimoda Marine Research Center of the University of Tsukuba will hold an open fieldcourse "Marine Ecological Environmental Science" for graduate students from September 26th (Monday) to September 29th (Thursday). If you wish to take the course, please send the required documents to the Graduate School of Education, Life and Environmental Area Support Office, University of Tsukuba by the deadline (July 29th).

→ Necessary documents can be downloaded from here

•   March 12 2022

New Publication

Professor Yasunori Sasakura, Assistant professor Takeo Horie, along with collaborators, identified the function of D-serine in the control of vesicle release from epidermis during metamorphosis of the ascidian Ciona. The research was published online on March 12th, 2022 in Science Advances.

→ D-Serine controls epidermal vesicle release via NMDA receptor, allowing tissue migration during the metamorphosis of the chordate Ciona

→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL

•   February 3 2022

New Publication

Associate Prof. Midori Matsumoto, Dr. Kenta Sugiura at the Keio University, and Prof. Kazuo Inaba and Assistant Prof. Kogiku Shiba at the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba succeeded in recording sperm flagellar motility in tardigrades and revealed that the morphological characteristics affect the sperm swimming behavior. These results were published online in BMS Zoology.

→ Morphological differences in tardigrade spermatozoa induce variation in gamete motility

•   February 2 2022

New Publication

A special issue of the scientific journal Zoological Science, with Associate Professor Hiroaki Nakano and Professor Kazuo Inaba serving as guest editors, was published. In this issue, with a theme of ‘Diversity of Coastal Organisms Around Japan’, many discoveries from the JAMBIO Coastal Organisms Joint Surveys are reported, and more than 10 new species are described from the seas around Japan. Some of the papers in the special issue are available online, free of charge.

→ Zoological Science 39(1) Diversity of Coastal Organisms Around Japan

•   January 19 2022

New Publication

Associate Professor Hiroaki Nakano, along with coauthors, reported a new species of acoels, Amphiscolops oni, collected from Shimoda and other areas along Japan’s Pacific coast. This species, possessing one or two dorsal appendages, was named after “oni”, a yokai or monster with one or two horns in Japanese folklore. The research was published online on January 19th, 2022 and will be included in the special issue of the scientific journal Zoological Science, ‘Diversity of Coastal Organisms Around Japan’, to be published in February.

→ A New Species of Acoela Possessing a Middorsal Appendage With a Possible Sensory Function

→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL

•   January 18 2022

New Publication

Professor Yasanori Sasakura, Assistant Professor Takeo Horie, and Post-doctoral researcher Ryoko Horie, along with coauthors, carried out research on the elucidation of the function of fate determinants that make sensory nerve cells. The research was published online on January 18th, 2022 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

→ Neuronal identities derived by misexpression of the POU IV sensory determinant in a protovertebrate

→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL

•   December 13 2021

New Publication

Assistant Professor Takeo Horie, along with coauthors, carried out research on the motor neuron responsible for determining the rhythm of early motor behaviour in the protochordate Ciona. The research was published online on December 10th, 2021 in Science Advances

→ A single motor neuron determines the rhythm of early motor behavior in Ciona

→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL

•   November 18 2021

Public Outreach

A book authored by Prof. Kazuo Inaba has just been published. This book is an easy-to-understand book for the general public about the specialised fields of flagella and cilia.

→ Amazon

•   October 25 2021

New Publication

Assistant Profs. Ben Harvey, Lucia Porzio, Shigeki Wada and Professor Jason Hall-Spencer have published work that quantifies and confirms the role ocean acidification plays in inhibiting calcification, recruitment and abundance of coralline algae in lab experiments and at high CO2 locations in the field using meta-analyses and synthesis of past research. This research was published in Global Change Biology on the 25th October 2021.

→ Understanding coralline algal responses to ocean acidification: Meta-analysis and synthesis

→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL

•   September 27 2021

New Publication

Assistant Prof. Ben Harvey has published an opinion piece on the future of marine heatwave research. This research was published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution on the 27th September 2021.

→ Predicting responses to marine heatwaves using functional traits

•   September 7 2021

Symposium

During the Tsukuba Global Science Week (TGSW), the ICONA network will be having a kick-off symposium. Presenters from the ICONA Network, as well as representatives from the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO will be giving presentations.

For more details:

→ See the poster

→ Visit the ICONA website

→ Visit the TGSW website