Report of event

Osaka University, Shimadzu Corporation and Institut Teknologi Bandung jointly organized a workshop entitled "Frontier in Biotechnology New Insights for Analysis of Biomolecules in Food and Medical with Mass Spectrometry" on August 10, 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia.As part of our mission to enhance academic cooperation and research collaboration in the field of biotechnology with Southeast Asian region, the Department of Biotechnology and the International Center for Biotechnology (ICBiotech), Osaka University cooperatively organized the first workshop in Frontier Biotechnology with Shimadzu Corporation in Bangkok, Thailand last year. In response to the success of last year’s workshop in Thailand, we successfully organized the second workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia with Institut Teknologi Bandung and PT. Ditek Jaya as local organizers in Indonesia. Several Osaka University staff, namely Prof. Eiichiro Professor (Department of Biotechnology Chair), Assoc, Prof. Shuichi Shimma, Assistant Prof. Sastia Prama Putri from the Department of Biotechnology, and Prof. Takuya Nihira (Director of the International Center for Biotechnology), Prof. Kazuhito Fujiyama from the International Center for Biotechnology took part as speakers and organizers of this workshop. The workshop was well attended by about 200 people from industry, academia and government in Indonesia. The main theme of this workshop is the application of mass spectrometry for food and medical research, focusing on the use of metabolomics-based mass spectrometry approach. The workshop aims to introduce various kinds of useful applications of metabolomics research in the vastly developing region. Prof. Ocky Karna Radjasa (Director of Directorate of Research and Community Services Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education) and Mr. Mokhamad Mahdum (Director of Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) were invited to join panel discussion along with professors from various top universities in Indonesia. The panel discussion presented an overview of the present funding situation in Indonesia and how to promote advanced research and collaboration between Indonesia and Japan. In addition, Osaka University organized the Osaka University Metabolomics Award for Indonesian students in which two research awards to conduct metabolomics research were presented to two students from Institut Teknologi Bandung and Universitas Gadjah Mada. The outcome of this workshop is expected to act as a catalyst for future research collaboration in the field of metabolomics with Indonesian universities, research institutes and private sector. This workshop was also highlighted in Indonesia’s largest newspaper Kompas and a Japanese media NNA Asia.