On July 9, a ceremony was held in Luxembourg to commemorate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between RIKEN and the University of Luxembourg’s Luxembourg Center for System Biomedicine (LCSB) and the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH). Based on this agreement, a joint laboratory will be established between RIKEN and the University of Luxembourg.

RIKEN’s ties with Luxembourg began in 2014 with a joint symposium that has been held annually since then, along with an agreement signed in that same year between RIKEN and LCSB, as well as an agreement in 2015 between RIKEN and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (NRF). The current agreement built on them by creating a partnership between LCSB and LIH that will create a joint laboratory working in areas including immunology, microbiome and inflammation research, as well as promoting the training of researchers and students.

Luxembourg is a world leader in the collection and management of data related to clinical specimens, and the joint research will take advantage of this strength, leading to the development of a comprehensive medical data system, incorporation of patient-derived data into disease models, and research into neuroinflammation using human-derived iPS cells.

The ceremony, held at the University of Luxembourg, was attended by Jens Kreisel, Vice Rector of the University of Luxembourg, Marc Schiltz, Secretary General of the Luxembourg National Research Fund, Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of the Luxembourg Institute of Health, Jean-Claude Schmit, Director of Health of the Ministry of Health, Luxembourg, and Romain Martin, First Councilor of the Luxembourg Ministry of Higher Education & Research. Attendees from RIKEN included Executive Director Motoko Kotani, Center for Integrated Medical Sciences (IMS) Director Tadashi Yamamoto, IMS Deputy Director Haruhiko Koseki, and Medical Sciences Innovation Hub Program (MIH) Deputy Director Kazuhiro Sakurada.