History
1996～2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
1996～2000
| 1996 | |
| April | Establishment of the University Development Deliberation and Coordination Committee and the University Development Promotion Office at the Shonai Development Council |
| 1998 | |
| April | Establishment of the University Development Promotion Office at the Shonai General Branch Office |
| Establishment of the Shonai Regional University Development Promotion Office | |
| 1999 | |
| January | Shonai Regional University Symposium "Universities and Regional Relations" |
| March | Agreement signing ceremony between Yamagata Prefecture, 14 municipalities of the Shonai region, and Keio University |
| Tsuruoka Town Campus of Keio (TTCK) Welcome Campaign held by the Tsuruoka Chamber of Commerce and Industry | |
| Inauguration of the Preparation Committee for Shonai Regional University Establishment | |
| October | Establishment of TTCK Support Study Group |
| November | Establishment of TTCK Initiative Regional Development Research Workshop TTCK |
| 2000 | |
| February | Groundbreaking ceremony for the Keio University Advanced Biosciences Research Center (tentative name) |
| August | Commencement of 4 projects at the TTCK Workshop |
|
2001
| March | TTCK pre-opening event "Science Forum on Soil, Water, and Life" |
| April | Opening of the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Keio University |
| May | Completion ceremony for the Tsuruoka Town Campus of Keio University (TTCK) |
| August | Summer Bio College 2001 |
| October | Opening commemorative event "Advanced Biosciences in the 21st Century" |
| December | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2001--for local residents (organized by the Chido Library) |
2002
| January | Development of new genome analysis software "G Language" |
| March | IAB selected for the Agilent Technology University Grant Program |
| May | Development of new technologies for metabolomic analysis system |
| July | Bio Simulation Training Program (for overseas undergraduate students) |
| August | First patent obtained with metabolomic analysis technology |
| The genome analysis software "G Language" wins award at international conference | |
| Summer Bio College 2002 | |
| Bio Finance Guild 2002 (organized by Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. for biotech investors) | |
| September | Joint US-Japan workshop US-JAPAN Joint workshop on Systems Biology of Useful Microorganisms |
| Ribonuclease H (RNase H) International Conference 2002 | |
| October | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2002--for local residents |
| November | Commencement of E-Cell Consortium |
| 16th IBM Japan Science Prize | |
| December | " Identification of putative noncoding RNAs among the RIKEN mouse full-length cDNA collection" ;published in Genome Research |
2003
| February | Advanced Biosciences through Experiments and Literature Seminar 2003 |
| June | Tsuruoka city was authorized as "Tsuruoka Bio Campus special zone" |
| First International E.Coli Alliance(IECA) Conference on Systems Biology of E. Coli | |
| 17th Creative Advanced Technologies Awards, Japan Industrial Newspaper Prize | |
| July | IAB establishes the bio-venture company "Human Metabolome Technologies, Inc." A new bioventure "Human Metabolome Technologies, Inc." established as a spin out from IAB |
| "Computational analysis of stop codon readthrough in fruit flies (D.melanogaster)";published in Bioinformatics | |
| Summer Bio College 2003 | |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2003--for local residents |
| November | IBM Shared University Research Award |
| "Kinetic simulation of signal transduction system in hippocampal long-term potentiation with dynamic modeling of protein phosphatase 2A" ;published in Neural Networks |
2004
| January | Joint development of a support system for diabetes diagnosis |
| 4th Keio University Intellectual Property Center Prize | |
| February | Experiencing Advanced Biosciences through Experiments and Literature Seminar 2004 |
| March | Completion of cell simulation software "E-Cell version 3" |
| June | 3rd Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Award in recognition for performance in Industry-Academia-Government collaboration |
| "Computational comparative analyses of alternative splicing regulation using full-length cDNA of various eukaryotes" ;published in RNA | |
| July | "A general computational model of mitochondrial metabolism in a whole organelle scale" ;published in Bioinformatics |
| August | Summer Bio College 2004 |
| First Keio Summer Bio Camp | |
| Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2004--for local residents | |
| September | Young Scientist Symposium, 21st Century COE Workshop on Integrated Systems Biology |
| November | Entrepreneur Award 2004 |
2005
| February | Experiencing Advanced Biosciences through Experiments and Literature Seminar 2005 |
| April | First prize at the 5th Japan Biotechnology Business Competition |
| June | Mutural agreement concluded with RIKEN on metabolomic research |
| Metabolomics 2005 First annual meeting of the Metabolomics Society | |
| August | Keio Summer Bio Camp 2005 |
| Summer Bio College 2005 | |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2005--for local residents |
| RNA/RNP Meeting | |
| December | Meeting of Japanese Neural Network Society |
2006
| February | Experiencing Advanced Biosciences through Experiments and Literature Seminar 2006 |
| March | Agreement signing ceremony between Yamagata Prefecture, Tsuruoka City, and Keio University |
| April | "Differential Metabolomics Reveals Ophthalmic Acid as an Oxidative Stress Biomarker Indicating Hepatic Glutathione Consumption" ;published in Journal of Biological Chemistry |
| June | Opening of Tsuruoka Advanced Research Industry Support Center (Tsuruoka Metabolome Campus; Tsuruoka City) |
| August | Keio Summer Bio Camp 2006 |
| Summer Bio College 2006 | |
| IAB Open Campus 2006 | |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2006--for local residents |
| November | First Metabolome Symposium |
| December | "SPLITS: a new program for predicting split and intron-containing tRNA genes at the genome level" ;published in In Silico Biology |
2007
| February | "Roles of hemoglobin allostery in hypoxia-induced metabolic alterations in erythrocytes: simulation and its verification by metabolome analysis" ;published in Journal of Biological Chemistry |
| "Alignment‐Based Approach for Durable Data Storage into Living Organisms" ;published in Biotechnology Progress | |
| March | First Spring Science Camp 2007 (organized by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)) |
| "Multiple High-Throughput Analyses Monitor the Response of E. coli to Perturbations"; published in Science | |
| April | Commendation of 2007 for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology - Science and Technology Award |
| August | Development of world's first three-dimensional cell simulation software "E-Cell Simulation Environment 3D" |
| Metabolome analysis for high-quality beer production in joint research with Kirin Holdings Company, Limited | |
| Doctoral student awarded first prize at the Best Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards | |
| Commencement of a joint research project with NittoBest Corporation on the exploration and analysis of the functional components of agricultural products in Yamagata Prefecture | |
| Summer Bio College 2007 | |
| Keio Summer Bio Camp 2007 | |
| September | A new bioventure "Spiber Inc." established as a spin out from IAB Keio University |
| October | Contribution to the discovery of new tRNA genes; published in Science |
| November | Opening of the Cancer Information Center "Karada-kan" |
2008
| January | "Bottom-up genome assembly using the Bacillus subtilis genome vector"; published in Nature Methods |
| Commencement of a joint research project with National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology on diagnosis methods for Alzheimer's disease using metabolic analysis | |
| Commencement of a joint research on biomining with BioSigma S.A. (Republic of Chile) | |
| March | Spring Science Camp 2008 |
| April | IAB Metabolome analysis technique selected for JST's "World top level technologies of Japan" |
| Commencement of a joint research with DENSO Corporation on bioenergy production usingmicroalgae | |
| May | "Large-scale phosphorylation mapping reveals the extent of tyrosine phosphorylation in Arabidopsis. " ;published in Molecular Systems Biology |
| June | Launch of Metabolome Consortium |
| IAB's new technologies honored in the international journal Analytical Sciences | |
| July | Keio Summer Bio Camp 2008 |
| August | Summer Bio College 2008 |
| Yamagata Prefecture Science Technologies Encouragement Award | |
| September | Ribonuclease H (RNase H) 2008 International Conference |
| October | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2008--for local residents |
| November | 3rd Metabolome Symposium |
| Transporter Workshop in Tsuruoka | |
| Selected as a Special Zone for Advanced Medical Care Development (Super Special Zone) |
2009
| January | Commencement of a joint research with Carna Biosciences, Inc. on bioenergy production using microalgae |
| February | The World's First Discovery of genes in jigsaw-like pieces from an archaeon living in hot spring |
| March | Graduate student awarded first prize at the 9th Japan Biotechnology Business Competition |
| Spring Science Camp 2009 | |
| April | 19th Nikkei BP Technology Award in the category of Medicine and Biotechnology |
| Selected for the "City Area Program" of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) | |
| 30th Workshop of the 164th Committee on Genome Technology | |
| May | Local high school students appointed as high school student research assistants for world-leading projects |
| Prize of the Chairman of Hatsumei Kyokai (Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation) at the 2009 National Commendation for Innovation | |
| "Quantitative Metabolome Profiling of Colon and Stomach Cancer Microenvironment by Capillary Electrophoresis Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry" ;published in Cancer Research | |
| "Measurement of internal body time by blood metabolomics" ;published in PNAS | |
| June | "Metabolomic Profiling of Anionic Metabolites by Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry" ;published in Analytical Chemistry |
| "Systematic identification of cell cycle-dependent yeast nucleocytoplasmic shuttling proteins by prediction of composite motifs" ;published in PNAS | |
| Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (NRMCB) Poster Prize at RNA2009 | |
| Two of IAB-launched venture companies in Tsuruoka City are selected for the "20 Most Promising University-based Startups" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry | |
| July | Summer Bio College 2009 |
| August | Keio Summer Bio Camp 2009 |
| September | Metabolomics Society Distinguished Service Award |
| October | First IAB CE-MS (Keio University Global Center for Excellence Program - Center for Human Metabolomic Systems Biology) Human Metabolomics Workshop |
| Patent obtained for state-of-art metabolomic analysis technology | |
| " Discovery of a new therapeutic method to prevent the progress of a chronic kidney disease" ;published in Journal of American Society of Nephrology | |
| Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2009--for local residents | |
| November | Doctoral student wins award at the Japanese Biochemical Society (JBS) |
| Doctoral student awarded the Tohoku Analytical Chemistry Encouragement Award | |
| December | The Tsuruoka Metabolome Cluster is adopted for JST's "Regional Industry-Academia-Government Collaborative Research Base Development Project" |
2010
| March | Special Zone for Advanced Medical Care Development seminar "The Future of Cancer Care" |
| Young Scientists Award at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Plant Systematics | |
| Spring Science Camp 2010 | |
| April | IAB starts a new drug development in an All-Japan System |
| May | Commencement of collaborative project with Imperial College London |
| 11 local high school students appointed as high school student research assistants | |
| "Whole genome assembly of a natto production strain Bacillus subtilis natto from very short read data" ;published in BMC Genomics | |
| June | A novel technology for detecting cancers by saliva testing was developed |
| July | Scientists uncover shared phosphoproteome linking remote plant species |
| Summer Bio College 2010 | |
| Keio Summer Bio Camp 2010 | |
| August | Special Zone for Advanced Medical Care Development seminar, "The Future of Cancer Care," held in Yamagata City |
| September | IAB 10th anniversary event |
| October | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2010--for local residents |
2011
| March | " Serum Metabolomics Reveals γ-Glutamyl Dipeptides as Biomarkers for Discrimination among Different Forms of Liver Disease" ;published in Journal of Hepatology |
| April | New building opened on the Tsuruoka Metabolome Campus (JST's "Regional Industry-Academia-Government Collaborative Research Base Development Project") |
| 12 local high school students appointed as high school student research assistants | |
| May | Agreement signing ceremony between Yamagata Prefecture, Tsuruoka City, and Keio University |
| June | Establishment of new system of "High School Students Research Intern" |
| July | Opening of new building on the Tsuruoka Metabolome Campus (Tsuruoka City) |
| August | Summer Bio College 2011 |
| First Bio Summit in Tsuruoka for high school students | |
| September | 24th Meeting of Japan Society for Archaea |
| Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2011--for local residents | |
| November | 31st Symposium on Capillary Electrophoresis (SCE2011) |
| Special Zone for Advanced Medical Care Development seminar "The Future of Cancer Care" | |
| December | "Knowledge Hub Shonai" launch symposium, "Facing and learning from the 3.11 earthquake" |
2012
| January | Commencement of a joint research on microbial fermentation with Daesang Corporation(Korea) |
| "Nematode-specific tRNAs that decode an alternative genetic code for leucine" ;published in Nucleic Acids Research | |
| February | "Metatranscriptomic Analysis of Microbes in an Oceanfront Deep-Subsurface Hot Spring Reveals Novel Small RNAs and Type-Specific tRNA Degradation" ;published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
| "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 2nd symposium, "New sources and ways to use energy within the Shonai region" | |
| March | "Changes in the Charged Metabolite and Sugar Profiles of Pasteurized and Unpasteurized Japanese Sake with Storage" ;published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry |
| Spring Science Camp 2012 | |
| April | Commencement of Tsuruoka Cohort Study |
| 9 local high school students appointed as high school student research assistants | |
| May | 15 local high school and college of technology students accepted as high school student research interns |
| June | Japan Bifidus Foundation Award for Young Investigator |
| July | Identification of substances in alcoholic beverages which induce superconductivity and clarified the mechanism of why they do so |
| Summer Bio College 2012 | |
| August | 2nd Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| Workshop for Onagawa Junior High School in Tsuruoka | |
| "Human blood metabolite timetable indicates internal body time" ;published in PNAS | |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2012--for local residents |
| October | "Metabolic and morphological changes of an oil accumulating trebouxiophycean alga in nitrogen-deficient conditions" ;published in Metabolomics |
| 7th Metabolome Symposium | |
| 4th International System Biology Conference FOSBE (Foundation of Systems Biology in Engineering) 2012 | |
| November | Master's student wins award at the International Conference and Exhibition on Probiotics 2012 |
2013
| February | Lecture for local residents by Mr. Hiroshi Senju |
| March | Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "Prevention of depression and front line treatment" |
| Spring Science Camp 2013 | |
| April | "Inhibition of Mitochondrial Aconitase by Succination in Fumarate Hydratase Deficiency" ;published in Cell Reports |
| Commendation of 2013 for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology - Young Scientist Award | |
| 21 local high school students accepted as high school student assistants and special research students | |
| May | Best Paper Award at Metabolomics Society |
| July | Summer Bio College 2013 |
| August | 3rd Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2013--for local residents |
| October | "Formulation of a hub for metabolome analysis and development of medical basic technologies based on cancer specific metabolism" project adopted by JST CREST |
| November | First Cancer Metabolism Workshop |
| Symposium on Complex Biodynamics and Networks | |
|
"Commensal microbe-derived butyrate induces the differentiation of colonic regulatory T cells" ;published in Nature |
|
| 6th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Cell Synthesis Research | |
| December | A new bioventure "SalivaTech Co., Ltd."established as spin out from IAB, Keio University |
| "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 3rd symposium, "Shonai in the world" |
2014
| January | 57th Yamagata Newspaper 3P ("Peace," "Prosperity," and "Progress") Prosperity Award |
| March | Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "Prevention of high blood pressure and stroke and front line treatment" |
| Spring Science Camp 2014 | |
| Agreement signing ceremony between Yamagata Prefecture, Tsuruoka City, and Keio University | |
| April | 21 local high school students accepted as high school student assistants and high school student interns |
| June | Selected for the "Promoting Regional Open Innovation Program" of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry |
| 10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society (Metabolomics2014) | |
| July | Lecture for local residents by Professor Heizo Takenaka |
| Summer Bio College 2014 | |
| 2014 Mishima Kaiun Academic Award | |
| August | 4th Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| September | Lecture--Introduction to Bioscience 2014--for local residents |
| October | 13th Yamagata Prefecture Science and Technology Encouragement Award |
| 2014 Award for Academic Startups Special Award | |
| December | "Alteration of the Intestinal Environment by Lubiprostone Is Associated with Amelioration of Adenine-Induced CKD." ;published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. |
| MMWS2014 Outstanding Young Researcher Award |
2015
| January | "Systems biology strategy reveals PKCδ is key for sensitizing TRAIL-resistant human fibrosarcoma" ;published in Frontiers in Immunology |
| February | First prize at the First Bioscience Grand Prix |
| "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 4th symposium, "Regional revitalization--building the future of Shonai" | |
| March | Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "Front line of health and longevity" |
| Spring Science Camp 2015 | |
| A new bioventure "Metabologenomics, Inc."established as spin out from IAB, Keio University | |
| 85th Japanese Society for Hygiene - Award for Outstanding Lecture by a Young Researcher | |
| May | 24 local high school students accepted as high school student assistants and high school student interns |
| 2nd Symposium on Complex Biodynamics and Networks(cBio2015) | |
| "Method of preparing an equimolar DNA mixture for one-step DNA assembly of over 50 fragments" ;published in Scientific Reports | |
| July | Summer Bio College 2015 |
| August | 5th Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| September | Japan Society for Microbial Resources and Systematics 2015 Encouragement Award |
| 14th Yamagata Prefecture Science and Technology Encouragement Award | |
| October | 7th Meeting of Young Researchers Group for Computational/Omics/Systems Biology in Japan |
| Sekigaku evening courses--Sekigaku satellite(from Marunouchi City Campus) x Bio course(at Tsuruoka)--for local residents | |
| November | 2nd Shigeru Terabe Award |
| 9th Wakate Colosseum for Bacteriology Young Researcher Encouragement Award | |
| December | Award for Remarkable Contribution to Science and Technology in 2015 (Researchers with Nice Step) |
| "The Consumption of Bicarbonate-Rich Mineral Water Improves Glycemic Control" ;published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine | |
| "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 5th symposium, "Narrating the future from Shonai--proposals from young people" |
2016
| January | Conclusion of an agreement on credit transfer between the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University and the National Institute of Technology, Tsuruoka College |
| March | Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "Front line cancer prevention" |
| A new bio-venture company "Metcela, Inc." established as spin out from IAB, Keio University | |
| Keio Spring Science Camp 2016 | |
| Conclusion of an agreement on credit transfer between the Faculty of Policy Management, the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University and the Faculty of Agriculture and the Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences at Yamagata University | |
| May | A total of 28 local high school students, the highest number ever, are accepted, 10 as high school student assistants and 18 as high school student interns. |
| June | BioHackathon 2016 |
| July | Summer Bio College 2016 |
| August | 6th Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| September | IAB 15th anniversary event--Changing the world from Tsuruoka, Yamagata |
| "Extremotolerant tardigrade genome and improved radiotolerance of human cultured cells by tardigrade-unique protein" ;published in Nature Communications | |
| IAB awarded the"Municipal Government Merit Commendation"from Tsuruoka City in Yamagata Prefecture | |
| October | Project Associate Professor Kazuharu Arakawa awarded the "Oxford Journals - Japanese Society for Bioinformatics Prize" |
| "Index markers of chronic fatigue syndrome with dysfunction of TCA and urea cycles" ;published in Scientific Reports | |
| 10th Metabolome Symposium | |
| November | Project Research Associate Masataka Wakayama awarded the 2016 Japan Food Technology "Grand Prize" by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization |
| December | IAB Director Masaru Tomita and Project Assistant Professor Kosuke Fujishima receive the "WIRED Audi INNOVATION AWARD 2016" |
| "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 6th symposium, "Shonai as seen from abroad--the appeal of Shonai" | |
| Sekigaku evening courses--Sekigaku satellite(from Marunouchi City Campus) x Bio course(at Tsuruoka)--for local residents | |
| Project Associate Professor Shinji Fukuda awarded the 2016 Ando Momofuku Award Invention and Discovery Prize |
2017
| February | IAB awarded the "6th Award for supporting program for regional industries (Innovation Net Award 2017)" from Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's | |
| Bio-Cluster Creation Project, Outcome of industry-academia-government collaboration: "Joint research between IAB and Funagata Mushroom Ltd. and others with new product commercialized" | ||
| March | Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "The front line of diabetes prevention" | |
| Keio Astrobiology Camp 2017 | ||
| April | Conclusion of an agreement with Keio University, National Cancer Center, Yamagata Prefecture, and Tsuruoka City | |
| "Evaluation of the impact of gut microbiota on uremic solute accumulation by CE-TOFMS-based metabolomics approach " ;published in Kidney International "Neonatal acquisition of Clostridia species protects against colonization by bacterial pathogens" ;published in Science | ||
| May | A total of 28 local high school students are accepted, 8 as high school student assistants and 20 as high school student interns | |
| June | Director General Tomita awarded the International Metabolomics Society's Lifetime Honorary Fellowship | |
| July | New product completed through industry- government- academia joint research with the Yamagata Research Institute of Technology, commercialization of a melon jam locally produced in Shonai" |
|
| "Distinct requirements for energy metabolism in mouse primordial germ cells and their reprogramming to embryonic germ cells." ;published in PNAS | ||
| Project Associate Professor Shinji Fukuda awarded the "First Bioindustry Honorable Award" | ||
| "Comparative genomics of the tardigrades Hypsibius dujardini and Ramazzottius varieornatus" ;published in PLoS Biology | ||
| 7th Bio-Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) | ||
| August | Keio Summer Bio College 2017 | |
| "Global metabolic reprogramming of colorectal cancer occurs at adenoma stage and is induced by MYC" ;published in PNAS | ||
| October | Project Assistant Professor Akiyoshi Hirayama awarded the "16th Yamagata Prefecture Science and Technology Encouragement Award" | |
| Director General Masaru Tomita awarded the "Yamagata Prefectural Distinguished Achievement Prize" | ||
| November | 10th anniversary of the establishment of the health university "Karada-kan": "Creating community health from Tsuruoka: To the flourishing of yourself, your peers and your locality!" event | |
| December | "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 7th symposium, "Waku-waku exciting Shonai Life: Eat, Learn, Live!" |
2018
| January | Bio-cluster Creation Project, New product completed through industry--government academia joint research between IAB and Tohoku Ham, K.K. |
| March | Associate Professor Kazuharu Arakawa discovered a new species of the hardy tardigrade in Tsuruoka city, Yamagata Prefecture and named "Macrobiotus Shonaicus" |
| "Microhomology-assisted scarless genome editing in human iPSCs" ;published in Nature Communications | |
| "Urinary polyamine biomarker panels with machine-learning differentiated colorectal cancers, benign disease and healthy controls" ;published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences | |
| Signing of comprehensive partnership agreement between IAB and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. | |
| Tsuruoka Cohort Study seminar, "The sleep medicine forefront" | |
| Keio Astrobiology Camp 2018 | |
| April | Signing of comprehensive partnership agreement between IAB and LINK-J |
| "Microhomology-assisted scarless genome editing in human iPSCs" ;published in Electrophoresis metabolomics | |
| May | 8 high school student assistants and 20 interns, appointed including students for the first time from Sakata city. |
| Project Research Associate Shinnosuke Murakami awarded the "Japanese Society of Balneology, Climatology and Physical Medicine research incentive award". | |
| June | Project Assistant Professor Nobuaki Kono awarded the "Young Academy of Japan award" for the research theme "Multi-omics analysis of spider silk" |
| Commencement of a joint research to develop a germiculture technology for strains of hardly culturable gut bacteria to facilitate further clarification of gut microbiota | |
| July | 8th Bio Summit in Tsuruoka (high school students) |
| August | Signing of comprehensive partnership agreement between IAB and Dai-ichi Life, Co., Ltd. life insurance company |
| Keio Summer Bio College 2018 | |
| September | 7th Informatics In Biology, Medicine and Pharmacology (IIBMP 2018) conference |
| Undergraduate student selected as one of Forbes Japan magazine's "30 under 30" for pioneering research on microorganisms in urban environments | |
| IAB graduate student awarded the international hymenopterists award conference for his research on ant biology | |
| October | 12th Metabolome Symposium |
| "Fast and global detection of periodic sequence repeats in large genomic resources" ;published in Nucleic Acids Research | |
| "Metabolic characterization of antifolate responsiveness and nonresponsiveness in malignant pleural mesothelioma cells" ;published in Frontiers in Pharmacology | |
| December | "Knowledge Hub Shonai" 8th symposium, "A wellspring of history and nature - talking through future town planning" |