CCII & Kyoto University｜Networks｜Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and Immunobiology

Joint Core Facilities & Medical and Clinical Research
As one of the oldest and most prolific research universities in Japan, over the past two decades the Kyoto University has considerably expanded its research focus on life sciences and medicine. The two recent Nobel prizes in Medicine or Physiology awarded in 2014 to stem-cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka and in 2018 to CCII’s founding director Prof. Tasuku Honjo for the development of cancer immunotherapy demonstrate the increasing emphasis on research in life sciences and advanced medicine at Kyoto University. As a “designated national university” Kyoto University also received strategic funding for new initiatives in priority funding areas, including life sciences.

Joint Core Facilities

Access to the most up-to-date instruments is crucial for research in the life sciences. In order to provide scientists working at the university with access to advanced instrumentation, Kyoto University has built a system of “shared facilities”, termed Kyoto University Management System for Core Facilities (KUMaCo) —that provides all scientists at the university with access to important equipment. Scientists at CCII will benefit from this network of shared facilities, but will also contribute special equipment not easily available elsewhere to this pool of shared resources. Scientists at CCII have access to various other types of facilities, including contract sequencing, or advanced computing facilities provided by the university’s Cybermedia Center.

Medical & Clinical Research

Over the past decade, Kyoto University has also increasingly invested in various new programs, facilities, and financing schemes to support start-up companies founded by scientists affiliated with the university. CCII is conducting research within the center as well as collaborating with various departments and organizations inside Kyoto University, including the clinical departments at the Kyoto University Hospital, the Kyoto University Cancer Center, the Center for Genomic Medicine, the Medical Research Support Center, or the Institute for Advancement of Clinical and Translational Science (iACT) where Ki-CONNECT is located which is specialized in early clinical trials.