News and Events
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New Publications
Awards
Media Coverage
Public Outreach
- August 23 2024
Media Coverage
Associate Professor Hiroaki Nakano assisted in the production of the article “From eggs to adults: the first successful breeding of the nudibranch sea slug Hypselodoris festiva”, which was published on the NHK Shizuoka website. It was also featured in the NHK News.
→ Web article
→ NHK news
- July 21 2024
New Publication
PhD student Makiko Hayashi and Associate Professor Hiroaki Nakano have raised the nudibranch Hypselodoris festiva from eggs to adults in the laboratory. This is the first report on the rearing of a sea slug belonging to the family Chromodorididae from eggs to adults in the laboratory. The research was published online on July 21st, 2024 in Scientific Reports.
→ Staging of post-settlement growth in the nudibranch Hypselodoris festiva
→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL
- June 7 2024
Open Fieldcourse
The Center will hold an open course for high school students based in Japan, "Introduction to Marine Biology," from Tuesday, July 30 to Friday, August 2, 2024. This course is designed to open the Center, a facility for education and research on the marine environment and its organisms, to high school students so that they can experience and learn about the marine environment and the diverse organisms that inhabit it from a variety of perspectives.
Those who wish to take the course are requested to send the documents below to the University of Tsukuba Shimoda Marine Research Center by post no later than Friday, June 28, 2024.
If there are too many applicants, the University will make a selection and notify you of the result.
→ Guidelines for "Introduction to Marine Biology" (attached PDF)
- May 21 2024
Open Fieldcourse
Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba will hold an open field course "Laboratory and Field Studies in Marine and Mountain Biology" for undergraduate students from August 26th (Monday) to August 30th (Friday). If you wish to take the course, please send the required documents by the deadline, July 8th.
→ Where to apply and required documents
- May 17 2024
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 16th (Monday) to September 19th (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 8th).
→ Required documents can be downloaded from here
- March 29 2024
Public Outreach
The ICONA project will be joining OARS (Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability) at the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain, 10-12 April 2024 - as part of the Ocean Decade Week.
- March 27 2024
Media Coverage
NHK-E program, “生きもの・どアップ！超ミクロハンター〜命を支える「毛」の秘密〜” will be broadcast on TV this coming Friday morning. In the program, children from Shimoda city got the opportunity to observe marine organisms under a microscope that was equipped with an 8K camera. Professors Kazuo Inaba and Shunsuke Yaguchi from the Shimoda Marine Research Center will appear.
Date: 29th March 2024 (Fri) 09:00 - 09:30
→ Click here for more details
- November 25 2023
Award
Joshua Heitzman, a graduate student in the Agostini laboratory, was awarded the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2023 (26th) Annual Meeting of The Japanese Coral Reef Society. His presentation was entitled 'Coral skeleton dissolution is accelerated by turf algal settlement under ocean acidification'.
→ Agostini Laboratory homepage
- November 22 2023
Media Coverage
An announcer from NHK Shizuoka wrote an article about the disappearance of sea urchins and their food source, seaweed, from the seas of Izu. The article discusses the drastic reduction in the number of a Sea Urchin (Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus), which are used as research materials, over the past few years. It also covers the disappearance of large seaweeds like Kajime and Arame, which serve as their food, as one of the causes. Associate Professor Shunsuke Yaguchi and Assistant Professor Shigeki Wada have been interviewed on this matter.
→ The link is available here.
- September 8 2023
Award
Prof. Kazuo Inaba, SMRC was awarded the Zoological Society of Japan Award 2023. The award ceremony and the award winners' lectures were held in the annual conference of the Zoological Society of Japan at Yamagata University.
→ Inaba Laboratory homepage
- June 28 2023
Student Award
Makiko Hayashi, a graduate student in the Nakano laboratory, was awarded the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Malacological Society of Japan. Her presentation was entitled 'Growth and staging in juveniles of the nudibranch Hypselodoris festiva'.
→ Nakano Laboratory homepage
- June 13 2023
New Publication
Sylvain Agostini, an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba, has published multiple papers on the achievements of the Tara Pacific project as a coordinator in the form of a collection of papers by Springer Nature. The Tara Pacific project is an interdisciplinary project initiated by the Tara Ocean Foundation, CNRS, Paris Sciences et Lettres University, CEA, Monaco Scientific Center, and the University of Tsukuba, among other international scientific partners. It explores the biodiversity of thousands of coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. With the participation of over 100 scientists from 8 countries and 23 research institutes, the scientific research vessel "Tara" conducted a 2.5-year exploration (2016-2018) and collected samples from more than 30 islands. Several papers have been published in Springer Nature on the study at oceanic level of the coral microbiomes, viruses, and adaptive mechanisms using high-speed sequencing technology. Papers published in Scientific Data, authored by Fabien Lombard et al. and Caroline Belser et al., describe the sampling methods and data framework of this project. All of these papers provide new insights into the health and biodiversity of coral reefs in the Pacific.
→ Click here for information about the project
→ Click here for the Article Collection
- June 6 2023
Open Fieldcourse
The Center will hold an open course for high school students based in Japan, "Introduction to Marine Biology," from Monday, July 31 to Thursday, August 3, 2023. This course is designed to open the Center, a facility for education and research on the marine environment and its organisms, to high school students so that they can experience and learn about the marine environment and the diverse organisms that inhabit it from a variety of perspectives.
Those who wish to take the course are requested to send the documents below to the University of Tsukuba Shimoda Marine Research Center by post no later than Monday, June 26, 2023.
If there are too many applicants, the University will make a selection and notify you of the result.
→ Guidelines for "Introduction to Marine Biology" (attached PDF)
- June 1 2023
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 25th (Monday) to September 28th (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 28th).
→ Required documents can be downloaded from here
- May 8 2023
New Publication
In collaboration with the research group in Shizuoka Prefectural Research Institute of Fishery and Ocean, Izu Branch, Prof. Kazuo Inaba, SMRC developed an extender solution for short-term sperm storage in alfonsino Beryx splendens. These results were published online in NIPPON SUISAN GAKKAISHI (an official journal of the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science) on May 3rd, 2023.
→ “Development of an extender solution for short-term sperm storage to promote seed production in alfonsino Beryx splendens”
- April 19 2023
New Publication
An international research group led by Professor James Davis Reimer of the University of the Ryukyus, in collaboration with Assistant Professors Sylvain Agostini, Ben Harvey and Shigeki Wada, alongside other members of the ICONA network, have synthesised information on the high abundance of zooxanthellate zoantharians (Palythoa and Zoanthus) at multiple natural analogues across the Pacific. These results were published online in Coral Reefs on April 19th, 2023.
→ High abundances of zooxanthellate zoantharians (Palythoa and Zoanthus) at multiple natural analogues: potential model anthozoans?
- April 6 2023
New Publication
Assistant Professor Ben Harvey, in collaboration with an international working group, has highlighted the importance of crustose coralline algae in coral reef carbonate production, alongside recommendations for their inclusion in carbonate budgets under the ongoing climate crisis. These results were published online in Communications Earth &Environment on April 6th, 2023.
→ Crustose coralline algae can contribute more than corals to coral reef carbonate production
- February 20 2023
New Publication
Associate Professor Hiroaki Nakano, in collaboration with a researcher at the National Institute of Genetics, established a method to induce artificial spawning in Xenoturbella, and have made new findings concerning the reproduction of the animal such as eggs and sperm being released from ruptures in the body wall. These results were published online in Communications Biology on February 17th, 2023.
→ Induced spawning with gamete release from body ruptures during reproduction of Xenoturbella bocki
→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL
- February 1 2023
Public Outreach
A special exhibition "Investigating Marine Life! -Introduction of JAMBIO Coastal Organisms Joint Survey-" will be held at the Shirahama Aquarium, Kyoto University to display the results of the JAMBIO Coastal Organisms Joint Survey.
Date: February 1st until May 14th
→ Click here for details
→ Click here for the exhibition
- January 1 2023
New Publication
PhD Student Callum Hudson (based at OIST), Assistant Professors Ben Harvey, Sylvain Agostini, Shigeki Wada, and Prof. Jason Hall-Spencer, along with collaborator Prof. Sean Connell, report how ocean acidification increases the impact of typhoons on marine ecosystems. The research was published online in January 2023 in Science of the Total Environment.
→ Ocean acidification increases the impact of typhoons on algal communities
- November 4 2022
New Publication
An international research group led by assistant professor Yuka Kushida of Rissho University and associate professor James Davis Reimer of the University of the Ryukyus, with associate professor Hiroaki Nakano as a member, discovered a characteristic evolutionary pattern of the cnidarian sea pens and proposed a new hypothesis on their common ancestor. These results were published in "PeerJ".
→ Exploring the trends of adaptation and evolution of sclerites with regards to habitat depth in sea pens
→ Press Release
- November 2 2022
Media Coverage
Prof. Kazuo Inaba appeared in the NHK BS Premium program "Humanience: 4 Billion Year Plan" and his research on cilia was introduced.
→ Program HP
→ Introductory article on the Life and Environmental Systems website (Japanese)
- November 1 2022
Media Coverage
Assistant Professor Sylvain Agostini of our center assisted in the production of the article “Loss of Seaweed Forest a Blow to the Fishing Industry”, which was published in Shizuoka Newspaper on November 1.
- October 25 2022
New Publication
Prof. Kazuo Inaba and his research group report the two-stage structure of giant comb-plate cilia in the ctenophore Bolinopsis mikado. These results were published online in Current Biology on October 21, 2022.
→ Two distinct compartments of a ctenophore comb plate provide structural and functional integrity for the motility of giant multicilia
- October 18 2022
Media Coverage
Assistant Professor Sylvain Agostini of our center assisted in the production of the video article “A Forest Under the Sea Disappeared (Shizuoka・Izu): The Parrotfish and Mottled Spinefoot that Eat an Entire Seaweed Forrest”, which was published by Kyodo News on October 18.
→ Kyodo News
- September 2 2022
Annual Meeting
The 93rd Annual Meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan will be held on September 8th to 10th at Waseda University in Tokyo. A number of member of the Shimoda Marine Research Center will be giving presentations.
For more details:
→ See the Program
- September 1 2022
New Publication
PhD Student Joshua Heitzman, Assistant Professors Sylvain Agostini and Ben Harvey, along with collaborators, report the outbreak of a new coral disease in a warm temperate marginal coral community in Japan. The research was published online in September 2022 in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
→ Recurrent disease outbreak in a warm temperate marginal coral community
- 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
[Application period closed]
- 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
[Application period closed]
- 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).
→ Required documents can be downloaded from here
[Application period closed]
- 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
- September 27 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
- July 21 2021
New Publication
Assistant Profs. Ben Harvey, Sylvain Agostini, Shigeki Wada, Koetsu Kon and Professor Jason Hall-Spencer have found that ocean warming and acidification are shifting temperate coastal reefs to simple turf-dominated ecosystems. This research was published in Global Change Biology on the 16th July 2021.
→ Simplification, not “tropicalization”, of temperate marine ecosystems under ocean warming and acidification
→ TSUKUBA JOURNAL
→ EurekAlert! "Complexity yields simplicity: The shifting dynamics of temperate marine ecosystems"
- July 21 2021
New Publication
Assistant Professors Ben Harvey, Sylvain Agostini, Lucia Porzio and Professor Jason Hall-Spencer published their research in the journal "Global Change Biology" on the 16th July 2021.
→ Major loss of coralline algal diversity in response to ocean acidification
- April 18 2021
Media Coverage
A special article "Progressing Ocean Acidification", in which Assistant Professor Shigeki Wada and Assistant Professor Sylvan Agostini of our center cooperated in the interview, was published in the Asahi Junior and Senior High School Newspaper on April 18.
→ Asagaku Website
- March 26 2021
Student Award
Mr. Yasuto Hayashi (Wada Laboratory) and Mr. Aya Sakamoto (Sasakura Laboratory) of the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, who conducted research at this center, made excellent research presentations and received high praise. He received the Dean's Award and the Dean's Award for his outstanding achievements.
→ Sasakura Laboratory homepage
→ Wada Laboratory homepage
- March 20 2021
Student Award
Mr. Yasuto Hayashi (Wada Laboratory), Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, who conducted research at this center, commended students at the "Marine Biology Symposium 2021" hosted by the Oceanographic Society of Japan Marine Biology Research Association online. Was awarded. This award was given for an oral presentation on the adhesion between particles involved in the decay process of marine snow.
→ Wada Laboratory homepage
- March 1 2021
New Publication
Professor Kazuo Inaba of our center, in collaboration with research groups such as Osaka University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Paul Scheller Institute in Switzerland, used the marine animal squirrel and the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas to motor protein of cilia. We have discovered a novel photoresponsive protein that binds to and regulates its movement. The results of this research were published in "Science Advances" on February 26, 2021.
→ Science Advances Article
→ University of Tsukuba Research Journal Press Release
→ Science Daily Introductory Article
- February 9 2021
Public Outreach
A special exhibition "Investigating Marine Life! -Introduction of JAMBIO Coastal Organisms Joint Survey-" will be held at the Kannonzaki Nature Museum to display the results of the JAMBIO Coastal Organisms Joint Survey.
Date: February 9th until August 31st.
→ Click here for details
→ Click here for the exhibition
- January 15 2021
New Publication
Assistant Professors Ben Harvey, Kon Koetsu, Sylvain Agostini, Shigeki Wada, and Professor Jason Hall-Spencer conducted transplantation experiments of biological communities between environments with different CO2 concentrations in the ocean, and found that turf algae dominated. When biological communities transplanted back into an environment with current CO2 concentration levels, the community was able to demonstrate recovery within a few months. The results of this research were published in Global Change Biology on January 10, 2021.
→ Global Change Biology Article
→ University of Tsukuba Research Journal Press Release
