On February 1 and 2, RIKEN and the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) held a joint workshop on their ongoing collaborative research on aging. The event took place at the Suzuki Umetaro Hall on the Wako Campus.

RIKEN has enjoyed a long relationship with USM that started with an exchange of researchers in 1993. Collaborations have continued since then, and in February 2015, at USM’s behest, the USM-RIKEN International Center for Aging Science (URICAS）was opened on the USM campus based on a collaborative agreement.

The URICAS workshop provided an opportunity for researchers involved in the project to present their findings. In addition, there were guest speakers from both RIKEN and USM, and vigorous discussions on the future directions of the collaborative research being conducted at URICAS.

In the afternoon of the workshop’s second day, there was a cordial meeting between Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail FASc, USM’s Vice-Chancellor, and RIKEN’s President Matsumoto.