On June 29, a 19-member delegation from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan visited RIKEN’s Yokohama Campus. The group was led by Natalia Larionova, Director of the Department of Small and Medium-Sized Business and Competition Development of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, and Artem Zdunov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Following an overall presentation on RIKEN by Executive Director Sawako Hanyu, the group was given an explanation of the RIKEN Preventive Medicine and Diagnosis Innovation Program (PMI) and the concept behind its partnership with Kazan Federal University, which is located in the Republic of Tatarstan, by PMI Program Director Yoshihide Hayashizaki. PMI Manager Oleg Gusev then gave them a demonstration of an infectious diseases diagnosis system that is currently under development and an explanation of the GeNAS (Genome Network Analysis Service) project in the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies (CLST), and following a tour of genomic analysis facilities the members had an exchange of views with attendees from RIKEN.